


Whispers of the Fallen

by Wix



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Illustrated, M/M, Not A Fix-It, Not Any MCU Movie After Civil War Compliant, One-Sided Relationship, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 16:36:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 35,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14898122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wix/pseuds/Wix
Summary: The Civil War has come and gone, but there are still lingering cracks in the foundation of the Avengers and there are always repercussions to be paid for choices made.Tony's not too surprised that he seems to be the only one paying for anything around here these days, and things have just gotten so much more complicated.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [阵亡者的私语](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15637437) by [allyStk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allyStk/pseuds/allyStk)



> Author's Note:  
> So there are no additional warnings to do for the first chapter, but please refer to the author's note for EACH chapter as additional warnings will be handled within them and not with the tagging system. 
> 
> PLEASE PAY ATTENTION to the comment requests in the end notes. Failure to adhere to these rules will result in your comment being ignored and deleted. It will not be approved and posted for others to see/interact with. I do very much enjoy getting reviews - it makes my day and puts a giant smile on my face - but I have to protect myself as an author as well as others who wish to engage with each other in the comments.

_“If I could go back and have done things differently, I would.”_

It’s a common phrase that Steve’s had to say multiple times throughout the hearings and the interviews in the days following the media coined ‘Avengers Civil War’. The only problem is, each time the words slip off of his tongue he can’t help but wonder the truth to them. Honestly, if he could go back and do things differently during that time he’s _not_ a hundred percent sure that he would. Steve knows that if Tony were here and could hear him say that aloud that he would say one of those little anecdotes like ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome’.

The problem with that whole train of thought is that…Steve’s not actually upset about this particular outcome.

Sure, there were some moments that he’s not proud of, almost all of them involving Tony himself, but for the most part – Steve accomplished everything that he was trying to accomplish during this time:

  * Bucky’s safe now, deep in Wakanda where those who would seek to harm him for actions that were not his fault or just to use him for their own selfish reasons can’t get to him.
  * The Accords have been shelved in the face of very loud advocate groups who demanded more transparency and more debate on the repercussions of such a law _before_ it became one.
  * Steve and the others who fought alongside him have been cleared in full of their actions and the repercussions of said actions due to what the media and lawyers have been calling ‘plausible extreme duress’ from ex-Secretary Ross’s interference and heavy handed threats and attempts to control the Avengers during that time period.
  * Wanda’s been granted temporary citizenship as an apology for what occurred in the RAFT prison.
  * They have a new team member who seems pretty sure that he can convince this ‘Hank Pym’ character to forgive him for running off with the suit again and let him come join Steve’s Avengers.



So it’s hard for Steve to really take a step back and look at the situation like a failure when it seems to have worked out completely in his benefit.

Well, almost completely. He would have preferred that Tony had not been made to watch that video and he would have preferred that Rhodes had not been injured during their little scuffle at the airport in Germany.

Tony still hasn’t responded to any of Steve’s attempts to open a communication with him before they see each other again, and Steve isn’t sure how to feel about that exactly. He wants to feel guilty, he really does, but he can’t feel guilty about protecting his friend.

Protecting both of them really. What good would it have been to dig up the past with Tony anyways? Hadn’t his parents been buried for a long time already? What good would it have done for Tony for Steve to rub his face in it again? Surely Tony could see that, surely he can see Steve’s point of view and see where Steve is coming from. There was no reason to tell Tony, and deep down he knows that Tony knows that too.

He holds out hope that Tony will reach out before they show up at the Compound and meet face to face again, but the days tick by and nothing from the brunet. Nothing when they’re cleared of the charges, nothing when they’re given their green lights to return to the Compound, nothing when they board the plane and take off back home.

“He’ll get over it Steve.” Natasha tells him gently, patting him on the shoulder when the plane finally lands on the Compound landing pad. “It’s you, he could never stay mad at you. Even if he wanted to.” She says and Steve gives her a smile at her kind words before grabbing his duffle and exiting the plane with the rest of them.

Steve realizes that he’s expecting some kind of warm welcome when it doesn’t come and he stomps down the small feeling of irritation when he realizes that it isn’t going to come.

“Welcome home guys.” He says to the others as they walk to the doors, and he gets smiles from them all as they go inside. The Compound has been cleaned up from Wanda and Clint’s escape and Steve figures that he’s slightly grateful for that. He wonders if it was done more for Tony’s guilty conscience about how he restrained a friend as opposed to making sure that Wanda and Vision didn’t have to continue reliving their temporary moment of being pitted against each other.

“You need to take this seriously.” A voice that Steve doesn’t recognize admonishes someone else down the hall and he’s a little surprised to hear Tony’s voice reply back.

“I’m taking this very seriously thank you very much and I’m getting pretty sick and fucking tired of people telling me what I’m doing and what I’m not.” Tony snaps back and Steve frowns, heading over to the hallway so that he can see whatever is going down between the two men.

“This isn’t something that you can just ignore.” The voice says again and it’s calmer, like the speaker isn’t trying to start a fight with the volatile brunet.

“You think I haven’t figured that out yet? You think this is fun for me? A walk in the fucking park? I _know_ that I can’t ignore it. Been there, tried that. It didn’t work.” Tony replies, frustration clear in his words and Steve wonders what they’re talking about. “Now just…it isn’t a good time.”

“I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a good time or not – you need to deal with it now, before it gets worse.”

“Worse? How the hell can this bullshit get _worse_? Actually you know what? Scratch that, I don’t want to know. Let me live in ignorance for as long as possible.” Tony says and Steve turns the corner and manages to see the two of them in the open area. The man that Steve doesn’t recognize is tall with dark hair and facial hair styled in a manner similar to Tony’s. He’s wearing a dark blue outfit that reminds Steve of those old fashioned karate movies that Tony always picked for his choice on movie nights. He’s standing still, his arms crossed and in complete opposite to Tony’s aggravated pacing back and forth. “Look, now _isn’t_ a good time.” Tony repeats after a moment. “I’ve got far too many things on my plate to go running off with you to Katmandu or wherever for who knows how long.”

“Kamar-Taj.” The man corrects with a small smile like something about Tony getting the place’s name wrong is funny. “And I understand that things are crazy right now, but this is also something that you need to get in front of. I may not always be able to come to your aid in time. It would be better if you were in Kamar-Taj where I could keep a close watch on you and pro-”

“So help me Strange, if you say ‘protect you’ one more time I will scream.” Tony warns him and the man, Strange, wisely doesn’t say it. “Look, I get it, you’ve got a job to do - but so do I. I can’t just go with you.” Steve watches as this Strange fellow and Tony seem to have some kind of stubborn stare down contest before Strange sighs with a small shake of his head.

“There’s nothing that I can say that’s going to change your mind, is there?” Strange asks and Tony shakes his own head.

“Nope.” He says and Strange sighs before he reaches out and takes Tony’s wrist, holding it up and doing an odd hand gesture over it. At first Steve isn’t sure why he’s touching Tony or why Tony’s allowing it before a golden light emerges and creates strange circle like images in the air over Tony’s wrist before wrapping around it and solidifying itself into what looks like a thin gold band.

“This is the best I can do for you right now then. If you’re in need of my assistance, it will tell me.” He looks Tony in the eyes with absolute seriousness on his face. “Do not take it off.”

“Despite what some people keep saying, I’m not stupid nor am I suicidal.” Tony fires back before looking closely at the band, and his voice softens. “…thank you.”

“You may come to feel differently about this.” Strange says and it sounds like a warning. “This isn’t a favor that I’m doing for you, it’s foolishness and it’s going to undoubtedly come back to bite us _both_ in the ass.”

“Sounds like the story of my life.” Tony replies with a heavy sigh. “Regardless though…thanks.” Strange nods once to him before he waves his hand in a circular motion and a giant golden portal opens up. Steve just watches wide eyed as Strange says his farewell to Tony before he steps through and the portal closes. Tony stands there a few moments before he runs a hand over his face. “Fuck.” He mutters and he seems to take a second to settle himself before he drops his hand and turns around to go do whatever it is that he planned to do.

“Tony.” Steve says, figuring that it’s time to step out and reveal them all and Tony glances up in surprise at them.

“How long have you been there?” He asks and Clint snorts.

“Long enough to know that you’ve fucked up something again and gotten yourself in trouble.” Clint says and Tony looks like he wants to say something crude or impolite to Clint before he decides to opt against it.

“Who was that?” Steve asks and Tony crosses his arms with a shrug.

“No one you need to worry about.” He says cryptically. “He’s not an Avengers member.”

“That doesn’t mean that we don’t need to know who he is Tony.” Natasha tells him and Tony shakes his head.

“He prefers his anonymity. Sorry, can’t tell you. If you see him around again and if you feel the need to ask him yourself, then by all means, knock yourselves out.”

“Keeping secrets from us now, wow why am I _not_ surprised?” Clint snaps with a roll of his eyes and Steve steps in before Tony can devolve this whole situation into a fight.

“What was he talking about?” Steve asks and Tony just shakes his head.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it. It’s being handled.” Tony replies before he claps his hands together. “Alright, so you know where everything goes and you know how this all works. Try not to break anything or put stuff down the disposal that shouldn’t be there.”

“Tony.” Steve says gently, cutting the billionaire off and Tony look at him. “What was he talking about? What’s going on?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.” Tony says with a wave of his hand and Steve can’t help but notice the thin golden band on his wrist as he does. “So, business as usual. You all know what to do.” Tony pauses for a second and reaches up to tap his ear. “Yeah?” There’s a moment of silence where he listens to the other side. “I’m almost finished, I’m heading back down to the workshop now and I’ll have those schematics ready for you by tonight.” Tony turns and starts to walk towards the elevator doors and pushes the button. “Pep, hey – I told you I’d have them finished, when have I ever missed a deadline? Exactly, never. Trust me, I’ll have them finished come hell or high water.”

“Tony wait.” Steve calls and Tony glances over his shoulder at him. “We were hoping to have a small get together, you should be there.”

“Not that he helped at all.” Clint mutters and Tony just gives Steve a friendly smile that feels wrong in a way that Steve can’t place his finger on.

“Sorry, no can do. Pulling an all-nighter, but you kids have fun.” Tony replies before he steps into the elevator. “How did the meeting with Nakasumi go? Did the projections for next quarter-” Tony’s voice cuts off as the doors close and Steve stands there feeling like he’s missed something.

It only takes him a few moments to replay it all in his head before he figures out where the fault is.

Tony’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.

+++

 

(Lovely Artwork Gifted By: potamikou)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the amazing and wonderful reviews! Please keep them coming! Here's the next chapter for you all!

It’s blissfully quiet when he finds himself in the kitchen at some point in the middle of the night looking for some food and considering some coffee despite the intention to crawl into bed shortly after eating. The halls are dark and empty and Tony’s rather miffed that his temporary peace has come to an end with the return of Rogers and his cult followers. Their return was inconvenient to say the least, bypassed only by the irritation that Tony felt at the Council’s and the world’s determination to roll out the red carpet for them in the wake of events that they managed to claim that they had no control over and that they were just helpless victims of the dark machinations of evil people.

If Tony were of any mind to, he’d give T’Challa a slow clap for the sheer level of bullshit that he’s pulled off.

The fridge light illuminates the entire kitchen when he opens the door and he has to squint for a brief second to allow his eyes to adjust to it. There’s not much in the fridge up here, not since he gave FRIDAY the green light to cease and desist all extra services that he provided for the Avengers Initiative pre the Council getting involved. If the Council wanted to keep the fridge stocked now, it was up to them. As far as Tony was concerned, he was not their parent and he was not their wallet anymore.

He pulls out one of the last containers left behind and he takes off the lid before he pops it into the microwave. It’s just something light to tide him over till the morning and he can’t help the longing glance that he sends to the coffee maker.

The light from the microwave is soft, but adequate and Tony lets his eyes trail down to the small gold band around his wrist. He hasn’t really had the chance to look at Stephen’s protection spell or whatever this thing was and he pulls up his wrist to investigate it. He can make out symbols and possibly words written out in a very thin and delicate scrawl and he’s curious what they say when he hears one of the chairs at the island behind him drag on the tile floor with an obnoxious squeak.

“So you’ve emerged.” Clint’s voice comes from behind him and he would give anything to not feel the tight, almost claustrophobic feeling in his chest at being in a room with Barton and whoever else that moron brought with him. A question does cross his mind though –

How long has he felt like prey in his own home?

This feeling isn’t something new, and he wonders if it started with Wanda’s inclusion to the team or if maybe this kind of bullying tactic was often employed prior to her arrival. He remembers constantly hiding out in the lab just to avoid their accusing stares and misguided comments…was there ever a time when they weren’t enemies parading themselves around like his friends?

“We were thinking that we were going to have to go down to the lab to drag you out, just like old times.” Natasha’s voice says and it’s playful and it grates on him like nails on a chalkboard.

“Last time I checked, I am a full grown adult and I do not require a babysitter or a nanny.” Tony tells her without turning around and just grabbing a fork out of one of the drawers.

“You sure about that Stark?” Clint presses with a snort and Tony just sighs. God he misses the quiet.

“Tony, what’s wrong?” _Steve_ asks from behind him and he almost wants to applaud him for how concerned and confused his voice sounds. Any amusement easily goes away though when Tony realizes that it probably isn’t an act – that the blond probably doesn’t see any reason why Tony _should_ be mad.

God isn’t that terrifying? Earth’s mightiest heroes everyone, bow down and stare in wonder.

“Nothing’s wrong, I’m merely saying that I don’t appreciate the joke that I can’t take care of myself despite several decades of evidence proving otherwise.” Tony replies back to him in as level of a tone as he can manage and he thanks his lucky stars when the timer goes off and he pulls the container out of the microwave. “Now I’m heading off to bed, have a good night.” Tony tells them and he cringes slightly when Steve moves to the end of the island, effectively cutting off his exit route.

“You don’t have to eat that in your room.” He tells him and he motions to the table with such an earnest look that Tony thinks he might throw up. “You could eat here with us, there were some things we wanted to talk about.”

“Like what?” Tony says, trying to keep his fingers from tightening on the container in his hands.

“Like how things are going to change around here.” Clint says and Tony doesn’t manage to bite back the sigh.

“I am aware of the changes that have occurred to the Avengers Initiative.” He tells him. “I was probably the first one told since you know, I was _here_.”

“And whose fault was that?” Clint fires back and Tony just levels a calm look at him.

“There was no ‘fault’ Barton, just choices. I chose to remain, I chose to be here and I chose to stay. I don’t see how ‘fault’ has anything to do with it.”

“We’re not trying to start a fight Tony.” Steve tells him and there’s a way that he says it that sounds like he’s scolding _Tony_ for starting a fight and only Tony.

So par for the course then. Guess some things really didn’t change.

“I’m not looking for a fight or a confrontation either. I just want to eat my pasta and crawl into bed. So if you’d please move.” Tony tells him and Steve glances down at his wrist for some reason.

“We need to talk first.” Steve says almost apologetically. Like he’s sorry that what he has to say is more important than anything Tony might wish or might want to do. Steve takes a moment to think about how he wants to word whatever it is he wants to say and he eventually lands on, “We need to know that you’re with us.”

“I’m an Avenger.” Tony says in reply to that and he knows that isn’t what Steve is asking for long before the frown overtakes the blonds face.

“That’s not what I meant Tony.”

“I know.” Tony admits, adjusting his grip on the container. “But that’s my answer regardless.”

“Always have to be a difficult bastard don’t you Stark?” Barton says in the background and Tony ignores him.

“Tony please, this is serious.” Steve implores him and Natasha stands up and comes alongside Steve. The perfect right hand woman that she pretended to be for him. God Tony should have seen the truth, why did he never see the truth when it came to these people?

“Tony, we’ve been talking and we’re concerned.”

“Concerned about what?” Tony asks neutrally, spearing some pasta and taking a bite, the image of calm under fire. Howard would be so proud – if Rogers’ friend hadn’t murdered him and if there was ever anything Tony did that actually impressed the man.

“We’re concerned about you. About trusting you again.” She says and if Tony were in any less control of himself his eyeballs would have fallen out of his skull with how hard he would have rolled them. “We have to be able to trust you out in the field, and right now? We can’t do that.” She makes eye contact with him. “We’re seriously considering benching you if you don’t talk to us. If you don’t make an effort to fix this.” Tony takes another bite and chews it leisurely.

“Actually…I think that’s a good idea.” He says and he could almost laugh at how all of them stare at him like he’s just gone full Linda Blair on them or something. “You’re right. It’s going to take a while for any kind of normalcy to return to the Avengers and if the majority feels like they don’t trust having me having to watch their back or trust themselves with watching mine, I think it’s a good idea if we find a way around it.”

“You want us to kick you off the team?” Steve says and Tony shakes his head.

“You don’t have the authorization to ‘kick me off the team’.” He informs him. “And that’s not what we’re talking about is it Nat? We’re talking about trust and how a loss of it might impact how we interact with each other in stressful and non-stressful situations.”

“Just you Stark, we’re just concerned about how you’ll react.” Barton ever so helpfully adds and Tony just shrugs as he takes another bite.

“We _want_ to trust you Tony.” Nat tells him, giving Barton a look that clearly tells him to shut up. “Help us do that.”

“I’d love to.” He says and he lets that sit for a brief moment. “But this isn’t just about you trusting me.”

“It’s not?” She says and he shakes his head.

“No, it’s not. This is about a loss of trust in general. You don’t trust me, okay that’s fair I guess. The flip side of that coin is that I don’t trust you either.” He tells her and Steve frowns while Tony hears Wanda snort in the background. God, can’t any of them be asleep like Wilson and like normal fucking people?

“What reason have we given you not to trust us Stark, compared to the hundreds of reasons you’ve given us?” Wanda snaps and Tony just looks Steve in the eyes as he takes another bite and swallows.

“Ghee, I don’t know. Finding out that I’ve been lied to tends to make me less likely to trust said liars again, and that’s long before the added issue of almost being killed by them.”

“You were trying to kill Bucky.” Steve tells him and he looks like he’s torn between pleading with Tony to see his point and being absolutely justified in his stance. “He was innocent Tony, he wasn’t responsible for your parent’s death and you know that.”

“Even if I did, that that still makes you a hypocrite for being angry at me for still wanting revenge against the man who – according to you – had no hand in my parent’s murder.”

“What does that even mean?” Steve snaps and Tony points at Wanda.

“She’s still spouting ‘down with Tony Stark’ hate every other day because she feels that I bare some kind of responsibility for her parent’s death, and you all just nod and go on about your business.”

“Bucky didn’t kill your parents.” Steve says to that and Tony looks him right in the eyes.

“And I didn’t kill hers.” He states firmly and he sees red out of the corner of his eye but Natasha quickly puts a hand on Wanda’s shoulder.

“No, we’re not going to turn this into a fight Tony, no matter how much you might want us to.” Natasha tells him and Tony sighs as he just looks down and takes another bite.

“I don’t want a fight, I just want to go to bed.” Tony tells them. “So let’s call this meeting adjourned. Iron Man is benched unless the situation requires all hands on deck. I’m not fighting it, I agree with you.”

“That’s a fucking first.” Clint snaps and Steve looks completely frustrated as he runs a hand through his hair and messes it up.

“Tony, don’t be this way.”

“I’m not being any kind of way. I’m agreeing with you, I don’t see the problem.”

“You’re only agreeing with me because you’re trying to get back at me.” Steve tells him and Tony tilts his head.

“Even if I were which I’m not saying I am, you still get what you want so what does it matter?” He asks and Steve clenches a fist.

“It matters.” He tells him and Tony doesn’t say anything in regards to that. “Tony, I don’t want you to be benched if we can avoid it. I want you here, _we_ want you here.”

“Well I want to be benched.” Tony tells him and that seems to derail Steve for some reason. “I don’t trust you to have my back and I don’t know…I guess you all feel like you don’t trust me to have yours and I don’t think that’s a good idea for us to throw each other in our faces if we’re not in a place to handle it.” He eats the last of the pasta and tosses the container in the trash. “Now, it’s late and perhaps team meeting should be saved for normal business hours?”

“This is too important for that.” Steve says and Tony sighs.

“What more is there to say Steve? No amount of pushing this tonight is going to change anything so just stop.” There’s silence that meets his words and Tony waits for them to move before Natasha opts to start a new conversation despite his clear request to be released from this room.

“The man who gave you that, you called him Strange right?” She asks, pointing to the band on his wrist and Tony just crosses his arms. “Who is he?”

“I thought I answered you on that already.” Tony replies. “He’s not an Avenger and he’s got nothing to do with you.”

“Tony, he sounded like you were in trouble. You say that you don’t trust us, maybe this is the way to start. Let us help.”

“No.” Tony replies. “No I don’t think I’m going to do that.”

“Damn it Stark, if you’ve fucked something up just come out and say it so we can fix it already.” Barton snaps and he gets a few looks to shut up, but he shakes his head. “No, if he’s going to be a child about this then I’m not sticking to your plan of ‘be nice to him and he’ll talk’.”

“So that’s what this whole ‘meeting’ was about?” Tony asks, looking at them. “Good to know. I’m heading to bed.”

“Tony-” Steve starts and Tony holds up his hand.

“It is late and I haven’t slept in two days. Now I am going to bed and you can all continue this without me.” He says firmly. “Have a good night.” He doesn’t stop despite the fact that they don’t move and he has to hold back the cringe at how he touches them as he goes by.

He doesn’t stop walking till he’s safe in the elevator down to the lab and he lets his head fall back against the wall.

This was going to be a nightmare, of that he was absolutely certain.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Another update before I get to work on a writing project. Enjoy the douchery!  
> ...There's a lot of it.  
> :-)

It’s strange, holding a meeting outside of the Compound if only just to stay out of the sight of a certain brunet’s security system. It’s a beautiful morning and Steve wishes that he could enjoy it more than he currently is with all of the stress currently pressing down on him.

“Steve?” Nat asks, coming over to where he’s standing, looking over the track and pool that Tony had added to the Compound a few months ago in order to allow Steve and Sam privacy in their morning exercises without being accosted by ‘fans’.

“Yeah? Are we ready?”

“No, Clint hasn’t returned with Wanda yet.” She tells him and he nods and just looks back out. “Is everything okay?” She presses a few seconds later and he sighs.

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s fine.” He lies and she calls him out on it.

“It’s Tony isn’t it?” She asks and he takes a moment before he sighs and nods. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, I guess I just thought that things would go differently.” He admits. “The rest of the world came around, why can’t he?”

“Tony’s stubborn, you know that.”

“His stubbornness is hurting the team.” _It’s hurting me._ Steve doesn’t say aloud, not that he thinks he has to. “I thought…I just thought that we’d come back and I’d sit him down to talk and we’d get past all of this.” He makes a generic sort of wave with his hand. “But now I’m not sure what to do with him. He wants to be benched? Why? Why do that just to get back at me? Why not just _talk_ to me?”

“You know how Tony’s self-destructive tendencies can cause him to lash out at others.” Natasha reminds him. “It’s only been a few days. There’s no need to panic yet. We’re going to get in front of this whether he likes it or not. He’s had a few days to stew and to realize his folly and now we’re going to do something about it.” She promises him before she turns and sees Clint arrive with Wanda. “We’re ready Steve.” She tells him and he sighs and nods, turning around and walking over to where Sam is waiting for them.

“What’s going on?” Sam asks, starting the meeting with the question that’s been on their minds since their return.

“We need to find out what’s going on with Tony.” Steve tells him as he sits down at the table they’ve declared their meeting space. “Something’s going on and the more Tony pushes back the more I’m concerned about what it is.”

“The fact that he’s going out of his way to hide it from us worries me.” Natasha admits and they all agree with that sentiment.

“Unfortunately, he’s not talking.” Steve says and Clint nods.

“That’s the fucking problem.” Clint says and Natasha sighs.

“We all know that when Tony gets stuck up in his head, he doesn’t always make the most rational of choices.” She says.

“And his choices tend to fuck us over.” Clint adds on with a roll of his eyes. “Let me tell you, I just wanted a nice comeback. I’m _not_ looking forward to having to deal with whatever it is that Stark’s gone and fucked up.”

“It might be nothing.” Steve says, trying to add the potential layer of this all being one big misunderstanding, but his defense sounds hollow even to his own ears. “Maybe he’s just trying to recruit a new member?”

“Then he should let us help.” Sam says. “Who better to recruit someone to the Avengers than – oh say – the Avengers?”

“He’s not trying to recruit him.” Natasha replies to that. “There’s no paperwork on whoever this ‘Strange’ person is and Ross didn’t know anything about it when I asked earlier.”

“You’ve talked to Ross?” Steve asks, a little surprised and she nods.

“Of course.” She replies to him like it’s so obvious. “Someone has to stay in his good graces, especially since we can’t really trust right now that anything Tony is doing will benefit the team.”

“Nothing Stark does benefits anyone other than himself.” Wanda says with a huff.

“Not to mention, the real reason I’m worried is because Strange seemed to reference something going wrong that involved Tony that needed to be given adequate attention that Tony is clearly not giving it.” Natasha continues and Steve remembers the conversation overheard in the hallway and he agrees with Natasha’s concerns.

They all do, it’s why they’re out here having a meeting to save one of their own from himself.

“Well Stark’s not going to tell us if his little temper tantrum the other night is anything to go by.” Clint says and Sam seems to be thinking about something.

“What if we went around him?” Sam asks. “Like, try to figure out who this guy is on our own and ask him ourselves?”

“Where would we even start?” Steve asks. “You saw how he just disappeared, there’s no way to track where he went. For all we know he could be anywhere.”

“We could always try that facial recognition thing that FRIDAY does.” Sam says. “Like back with Barnes.” Steve flinches slightly at the mention of Bucky while in a conversation about Tony but he hides it a moment later.

“Something tells me that FRIDAY isn’t going to be much of a help to us. Not while its creator is being a dickwad.” Clint says, throwing up a middle finger towards the Compound entrance.

“Stop that Clint.” Steve scolds him and Clint rolls his eyes but drops his hand regardless. “I think our first order of business is to try and talk to Tony again. Maybe now that he’s gotten some rest and had some time, he’ll be more reasonable than he was feeling before.” Steve gets a lot of disbelieving looks at his optimism. “It’s worth a try before we step on his toes by trying to go around him. We didn’t like it when he did it to us.”

“By that same thought he didn’t like it when we kept secrets from him but look what the baby’s doing now.” Clint retorts. “I don’t really think he cares about double standards Cap.”

“Well I care.” Steve says firmly. “And I think we should at least give him another shot.”

“I think it’s not going to work.” Clint says. “But you’re the boss.”

+++

He feels like death warmed over when he wakes up, practically smothered by mounds of blankets and pillows.

“FRI?” He mumbles without lifting his head.

 ** _‘Good morning Boss. The time is eight forty seven and it is currently sixty three degrees outside.’_** FRIDAY answers him and he groans as he considers just letting himself fall back to sleep.

“The others?” He asks and there’s a brief pause.

**_‘They are awake and evidentially awaiting your own arrival for some kind of intervention.’_ **

“Ugh.” Tony groans as he mashes his face in the pillow. He really, _really_ doesn’t have the want to deal with this. It takes him a few minutes to sit up, his body burns with the strain and he staunchly ignores the tight feeling under his skin. “Has Pep called?”

**_‘No Boss, but she did send her thanks and a promise to let you know how the meeting went later.’_ **

“Awesome. How’s Rhodey doing?”

 ** _‘Colonel Rhodes has not sent in a message for today but his physical therapy sessions appear to be going well.’_** Tony lets a small amount of pain and guilt eat at him before he pushes it away. Rhodey’s going to walk again – if it’s the last thing Tony does on this miserable earth – he’s going to walk again. Tony’s barely managed to finish brushing his teeth when FRIDAY speaks again.

 ** _‘Boss, incoming.’_** She says and there’s a knock on the door a few moments later.

“Tell them I’m not decent.” Tony mutters as he shimmies a little to get out of his pants as he turns on the water in the shower.

 _“Like that’s stopped you before!”_ He hears Clint’s muffled yell through the door and he rolls his eyes.

 ** _‘Boss, a threat to break down the door has been given.’_** FRIDAY pauses. **_‘I believe it to be genuine.’_**

“Son of a – fine, let them in. This is ridiculous.” Tony mutters as he goes over to the door and opens it just in time to see the others enter his room. “What?” He snaps. “What on earth could be _so important_ that you couldn’t wait ten minutes?”

“We’re not on your timetable Stark.” Wanda says as she looks away from him, her nose crinkled up in disgust and Clint makes a sound like he’s just been stabbed.

“Damn it Stark, put on some pants!” He tells him and Tony rolls his eyes.

“I literally told you that I wasn’t decent. You don’t want to see me in my underwear? Then get out.” Tony snaps back and Clint goes over to his drawers and starts tearing them open to pull out some sweatpants. His gaze goes over to Steve and there’s a strange look on Steve’s face like something about the image being presented is odd to him somehow.

Well Tony doesn’t like being in a t-shirt and his underwear in front of Steve either. So there. They’re both suffering today.

“Clint got a little overzealous.” Steve says, and there’s a small amount of apology in his voice. “He thought you were stringing us along.”

“I just woke up. I haven’t had the chance to do _anything_ yet.” Tony fires back. “So how about you all leave and let me get on with my morning.” Clint comes over and shoves the pants at him.

“Put these on, we gotta talk.” He tells him and Tony tosses them onto the sink behind him.

“I’m not putting them on. I’m about to take a shower if you haven’t noticed.”

“That can wait.”

“It really can’t.” Tony throws back at him. “Now get out.”

“We’re not leaving till we’ve talked about this.” Clint says and he’s faster than Tony’s expecting him to be – or maybe Tony just didn’t think he’d actually reach out and touch him but between one second and the next he’s got a grip on Tony’s arm and has pulled it up to draw attention to the spell that Strange put on him.

“Get your fucking hands off of me right now.” Tony says, and his voice is cold and threatening.

“How about you get your fucking panties untwisted and just tell us what is going on.” Clint retorts and Tony twists his arm and tugs it out of Clint’s grasp.

“Put your hand on me again Barton and you don’t get it back in working order am I clear?” Tony tells him and he makes sure that his tone shows how deadly serious he is.

“You think I’m scared of you rich boy?” Clint chuckles with a roll of his eyes and Tony just smiles at him.

“If you’re not you will be.” Tony tells him and Wanda steps forward.

“Careful who you threaten Stark, because you’re not the one with the biggest stick in the room.” She tells him and there’s red curling at her fingers.

“That’s enough everyone.” Steve finally steps in. “This isn’t how this was supposed to go. Let’s let him get ready and we’ll wait for him outside.”

“Nah, too late for that Cap.” Clint says. “We’re already here.”

“Theatrics aside, we’re here because we’re worried Tony.” Natasha finally speaks and Tony gives her a look that he hopes conveys how much she can jump off a bridge. “You know Clint hates beating around the bush.”

“I know that I’m going to be having words with the Council about how if they expect the Avengers to live out of the Compound that basic privacy should be respected.” Tony tells her.

“Please Tony, it’s nothing none of us couldn’t see without a simple google search.” Natasha says and if it’s meant to be a joke, or meant to be funny – Tony doesn’t get it.

“Get out.” Tony snaps, his non-existent patience completely gone. “Or we’re about to have a second replay of Germany up in here.”

“You’d lose.” Wanda tells him with a small smirk before she steps forwards. “But enough games.” She holds out a hand and her magic crosses the small area to undoubtedly rifle through his memories or overtake him just to have him tell them what they want to know – when the gold band lights up, dispelling her powers.

There’s a brief moment of confusion where no one in the room seems to know what to do with what’s just happened and Tony groans and slaps his hand over his face.

“Son of a – now you’ve done it.” He mutters and before anyone can say anything, a portal opens up behind them and the Sorcerer Supreme steps out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved the responses to the last chapter so much guys! Thanks!

It only takes two times of FRIDAY telling them that Tony is sleeping to have Clint finally throw caution to the wind and start storming down the hallway towards the brunet’s room.

“He’s not fucking sleeping.” Clint snaps as they chase after him. Steve sighs and shares a look between Natasha and Sam when they stop outside the door and Clint starts banging his fist against it. “Open up!”

 ** _‘Boss is currently not in a state to accept guests. He will be finished up in a few minutes.’_** FRIDAY tells them and its voice almost sounds disapproving.

“Like that’s stopped you before!” Clint yells through the door as he bangs on it again.

“Clint man, why don’t we just give him a few minutes?” Sam starts to say but Clint shakes his head.

“No, I’m done playing nice.” Clint snaps. “I’m going to break this fucking door down if he doesn’t open it up right now.” There’s a pause and Steve goes to step forward to stop Clint when the archer takes a step back undoubtedly to do what he’s threatened when the door opens for them and he turns to them with a smirk. “See, that’s how you do it.”

Steve sighs alongside Sam as they step into the room since Tony’s agreed to let them in and he’s caught off guard when he sees the billionaire step out of the bathroom with a look of frustrated irritation on his face.

He wasn’t lying about not really being in a state for guests if the oversized shirt that hangs off of him is anything to go by. He’s not wearing pants and his hair is sticking up this way and that, and the image just kicks Steve in the gut for reasons unknown. Tony’s voice is clearly angry and Steve steps in while Clint goes to find Tony some pants.

“Clint got a little overzealous.” Steve tells him and the look Tony shoots him is unimpressed with the excuse. “He thought you were stringing us along.”

“I just woke up.” Tony fires back. “I haven’t had the chance to do anything yet.” He turns back to the others. “So how about you all leave and let me get on with my morning.” Clint comes back over with a pair of sweats in his hands and he shoves them in Tony’s chest.

“Put these on, we gotta talk.” Clint tells him and Tony decides to be difficult because he just tosses the pants behind him into the bathroom where Steve can still hear the water running.

“I’m not putting them on. I’m about to take a shower if you haven’t noticed.”

“That can wait.” Clint informs him and Tony just shakes his head.

“It really can’t. Now get out.”

“We’re not leaving till we’ve talked about _this_.” Clint says, reaching out and tugging Tony’s arm up so that Tony knows why they’re here. The look that Tony gets on his face is strangely cut off and the tone he speaks in is something that makes Steve feel like the temperature has dropped.

“Get your fucking hands off of me right now.”

“How about you get your fucking panties untwisted and just tell us what’s going on?” Clint fires back and Tony manages to tug his arm out of Clint’s grasp with a firm motion.

“Put your hand on me again Barton and you don’t get it back in working order am I clear?” Tony says and Steve frowns a little at the unnecessary threat.

“You think I’m scared of you rich boy?” Clint laughs, always having to escalate the situation and the look that crosses Tony’s face makes Steve pause.

“If you’re not you will be.” He says and it makes Steve wonder for a brief second if that’s the tone that Tony took as the final thing the Ten Rings heard or the Mandarin. He’s calm and eerily threatening in a way that he shouldn’t be to his own team. Wanda’s decision to step in and start escalating the situation as well has Steve rejoining the conversation.

“That’s enough everyone.” He tells them. “This isn’t how it was supposed to go. Let’s let him get ready and we’ll wait for him outside.”

“Nah, too late for that Cap.” Clint ignores him and Steve’s going to have to have a talk with him about this kind of behavior. “We’re already here.”

“Theatrics aside,” Natasha says, clearly referencing Tony’s unnecessary threat, “we’re here because we’re worried Tony.” The look Tony sends her is a look that Steve’s seen him use before, but to that Justin Hammer fellow and never one of them. “You know Clint hates beating around the bush.” Truer words had never been spoken.

“I know that I’m going to be having words with the Council about how if they expect the Avengers to live out of the Compound that basic privacy should be respected.” Tony fires back.

“Please Tony, it’s nothing none of us couldn’t see without a simple google search.” Natasha tells him with an amused smile and for some reason that fact makes Tony flinch back slightly.

“Get out” He all but growls at them. “Or we’re about to have a second replay of Germany up in here.”

“You’d lose.” Wanda informs him as she steps towards him. “But enough games” She says, clearly also at the end of her patience with the brunet and before Steve can tell her that’s not how they handle each other, her magic has already reached out for Tony.

There’s a small flash of light emanating from the gold band on Tony’s wrist and somehow Wanda’s powers disappear like they were never there. Steve stares in surprise and a healthy amount of concern. How was Tony able to do that? Why would he create something like that or let someone else put something like that on him?

Steve doesn’t get a chance to ask him what he was thinking though because Tony lets out a groan and slaps his hand over his face.

“Son of a – now you’ve done it.” He says and there’s a feeling like the hairs standing up on the back of his neck when a similar portal from before opens up and the man in question steps out of it.

The man doesn’t look amused or pleased by being here when he takes them all in and Steve can’t help but think that the strange red cloak that’s settled over his shoulders is rather ridiculous looking.

Wanda jolts a little out of surprise before she raises her hands, her magic rising to her call and ready to defend her family from the unknown potential threat in the room. It reaches out, clearly intending to ensnare the man until they can get some information from this whole strange scenario when, like before with the bangle around Tony’s wrist, the magic just dissipates before it even has a chance to touch him.

Steve notes how, if possible, the man looks even less impressed than he did before.

He takes a step forward, towards Tony who has immediately raised his hands in a placating, surrendering sort of gesture, and it’s like the man’s red cape has become a flag to them all because they immediately rise to the call of battle. Natasha and Sam have a gun out, Clint’s assembled his bow and Steve wishes that he had a shield to stand with but Tony hasn’t had a chance to give it back to him yet, but he stands at the ready regardless.

“Stand down.” Steve orders him and the man doesn’t pay him any attention as he continues forward in his path to the brunet but he raises a hand when they go to enforce Steve’s order and there’s a strange sound like the crunching of glass before they’re standing in the room – but Tony and the man aren’t there anymore.

“What? What just happened?” Sam asks, looking around.

“Where’s Tony?” Steve asks, looking for the brunet. “Tony!” He shouts and there’s no answer. “FRIDAY where’s Tony?” He asks and there’s no response from the AI.

“Steve…something’s not right.” Wanda says, glancing around the room and Steve nods. He can feel it too. Something’s wrong.

“I know, but we have to find Tony.” He tells her. “Avengers, assemble.”

+++

With a wave of his hand, Stephen sends Rogers and his little team into the Mirror Dimension – or so he calls it – before he comes up to where Tony is standing. Tony continues to hold his hands up in appeasement.

“I’m alright.” He tells him. “I’m fine see? Stupid people being stupid but I’m good.”

“What happened?” Stephen asks and Tony sighs before he runs a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Stupid people being stupid. Didn’t I say that already? But I’m fine.”

“The protection spell registered an attack.” Stephen says, clearly not buying what Tony is trying to sell him right now. “And not a friendly attack either, one with intent to cause harm.” Tony sighs. Yeah, that sounds about right. “So I ask again, what happened?”

“Wanda was being a bitch.” Tony replies to him and Stephen arches an eyebrow and Tony gives him a ‘what can you do’ sort of shrug.

“I’m curious to hear the reason that would attempt to justify such an attack.” Stephen looks around the room before landing on Tony’s current state of undress. “In your room, out of your suit and clearly a non-combatant.”

“They wanted to know about you actually.” Tony says. “They’re stupidly obsessed and I wouldn’t tell them so their little Hydra darling decided that she was going to just take the information instead of acting like a decent human being.”

“Is this a common occurrence?” Stephen asks and Tony shakes his head.

“Not so much, but it’s not really surprising either. So take that as you will.” Tony tells him and Stephen gets a deeper frown on his already unhappy looking face.

“You assured me that you would be safe in the Compound.” Stephen tells him and Tony shakes his head.

“Technically I said I was ‘as safe as I could possibly be’.” Tony corrects him. “And to be fair, that was probably truer before those morons returned.” Stephen goes to say something and Tony shakes his head. “Don’t.” He cuts him off and Stephen sighs.

“It feels like I’m going to start sounding like a broken record, but this is _unwise_ Tony.” Stephen tells him and Tony snorts.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” He replies. “But I stand by what I said before. I get it, all this crazy magic mumbo jumbo is important-” Stephen goes to agree but Tony cuts him off. “– but this is important too. Thanos isn’t just going to stop coming because of all this, and bad people aren’t going to stop being assholes either.”

“And the Avengers?” Stephen prompts and Tony sighs.

“Yeah, if you honestly think that FRIDAY hasn’t already recorded all of this for the last few days and hasn’t already contacted Ross to review any possible breaches of their little agreements then you’re crazy.” Tony tells him. “But I stand by what I said. Apart from Kamar-Taj or wherever, the Compound is the safest place I can possibly be.”

“Unless those who reside inside of it with you intend you harm.” Stephen points out.

“I’m working on that.” Tony looks around the room. “But if you want me to somehow keep you out of the Accords and all that jazz, you might want to bring them back sometime soon.” Tony says before he looks back at the sorcerer. “Although I can’t promise anything at this point.”

“I understand.” Stephen says with a nod. “I’ll go get them.”

“Get them? Can’t you just?” Tony does a mimic of Stephen’s hand motions and the sorcerer gets a small smile.

“I could, but then I wouldn’t have a moment to talk with them.” He says before he raises a hand to start the spell and Tony sputters.

“Talk to them? Strange don’t you _dare_. I don’t need you to-” Tony cuts off with a groan when the sorcerer disappears and he just shakes his head. “FRIDAY…ugh forget it, cancel any meetings for today. I’m taking a shower and then I’m going back to bed.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for waiting guys! Here's the next chapter for you all!  
> Please enjoy!

Wherever they are is an eerie recreation of the Avengers Compound, but void of any life. Steve and the others search the hallways and call out for Tony and FRIDAY respectively but they don’t receive any response from either the creation or its creator.

They’re well into their second loop through the building when there’s the strange sound of one of those portals opening again and Steve watches as ‘Strange’ steps through, his cape flowing around him like something out of a movie and with a wave of his hand the portal disappears, leaving him in the area with them.

Steve fully understands how the rest of his team drops down and prepares for a battle. This man has already attacked them once and has trapped them in this Twilight Zone like area with no knowledge of how to get back to the real world.

“Stop right there.” Steve demands and he’s a little surprised when the man stops in his forward movement towards them. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“I’m Doctor Strange and I was under the impression that _you_ were inquiring after _me_.” Doctor Strange says with a kind of flippancy to his response. Like he’s mocking them somehow in his answer.

“Where are we? What have you done?” Natasha asks, her guns leveled on the man.

“We are in the Mirror Dimension.” He tells her. “And all I have done is put us all here while I contemplated what to do with you.” He glances at each of them in turn, at his own sort of leisurely pace. “As you can imagine…we have a problem.”

“Oh I’m looking at a problem buddy, and you’re going to have a lot more problems coming your way if you don’t put us back.” Clint snaps at him and the man’s gaze travels to where Sam and him are.

“Unfortunately, it seems as though I can’t ‘put you back’ as it were until we have a little… _talk_.” There’s a subtle threat in his final word and Steve clenches his fists.

“We’re not ‘talking’ until you take us back to Tony.” Steve tells him and Strange gives him a look that Steve can’t fully place, but it’s certainly nothing good.

“I will certainly not be returning you to him until we’ve come to an agreement.” Strange says.

“What kind of agreement?” Natasha asks carefully and Strange looks at her like she’s a dog who has just done a rather impressive trick. It’s insulting.

“I will admit, I was rather…unconcerned with your ‘return’ as it were and now I find myself in a difficult situation.” Strange tells them. “However, if we can come to an understanding I don’t see why this whole thing should become any more unpleasant then it already has.”

“You’re the one making it unpleasant.” Steve informs him and Strange sighs and looks at him.

“ _You_ made this unpleasant when you attacked Tony.” Strange replies and Steve’s shoulders go back at the insinuation.

“We didn’t attack Tony.” Steve fires back and Strange levels an unimpressed look on him.

“Shall we at least _attempt_ not to lie to each other? Or at least can we agree not to do it so terribly?” Strange says.

“We didn’t fucking touch him.” Clint snarls.

“I see, then please explain to me what _was_ happening in that room? I’ll admit, I’m rather curious to see where this goes.” Strange replies.

“We were just talking.” Natasha says and Strange sighs.

“Talking? Do your conversations usually end with Miss Maximoff using her powers to invade your minds in order to retrieve information that she has no business retrieving? That’s rather concerning.” Strange’s voice is completely mocking.

“Listen here jackass, if you think for one second that-” Clint starts to say and Strange sighs and does another weird golden circle in the air before he sends it at Clint within seconds. Clint’s words trail off into nothingness even as his lips keep moving.

“If you have nothing useful to add to the conversation, please remain silent.” Strange tells him and Wanda’s powers lash out at him in retaliation and he just flicks them away like they’re _nothing_.

No worse than that – like they’re an _afterthought_. Like he didn’t even need to begin to take them seriously or give them any part of his attention or concern. He lets out a sigh when Natasha and Sam take a shot at him and Clint lets an arrow fly – and the cloak around his shoulders moves like it’s alive and blocks the three attacks before Strange does another circle and golden chains grab them and tug them down to the ground.

“Are you _quite finished_?” He asks and Steve growls.

“You’re attacking us.”

“I’m here to have a conversation, I am merely uninterested in playing along with your childish and ridiculous antics. Now…” He looks at Steve. “We need to discuss your continued stay at the Compound and in the presence of Tony Stark.”

“Tony’s one of us.” Steve tells him and Strange arches an eyebrow.

“He most certainly is not.” Strange tells him with a small tilt of his lips like there’s some kind of joke that Steve isn’t in on. “What he _is_ however, is under my protection, and I will not abide further attacks on him.”

“Under your protection?” Natasha mutters from where she’s bound. “What does that mean?”

“It means exactly that, under my protection. Which means, when I return you to the Compound you are going to follow specific instructions when it comes to him. One: you will not lay a hand on him. Two: you will not use any of your abilities on him. Three: you will not harass him or attempt to control or manipulate him.” Strange looks at them. “So basically I want you to act like decent human beings and full grown adults. If that’s too _complicated_ for you, let me know and we’ll go from there.”

“Insulting us isn’t going to win you any favors.” Steve tells him and Strange gives him a look.

“Mr. Rogers, you insult yourself.” Strange says. “This whole farce is beneath all of us and yet, here we are due to your actions.”

“We were just talking to him.”

“The rest of the world would call that ‘assault’ and ‘harassment’. I know you were out of the loop for a while but you’ve been awake more than long enough to have caught on to those simple concepts.” Strange takes a few steps towards Steve and Steve stands up taller as the man stands in front of him. “Let me be very, very clear here Mr. Rogers.” Strange starts in that calm – irritating – voice of his. “You may be used to behaving a certain way with Tony, where invading his mind and his space is just another day in the week for you; but that will not be tolerated. If I have to return to handle you again let me impart on you the very real truth that I will do so without hesitation. Am I clear?” Steve doesn’t say anything, he just glares at the man but Strange seems uninterested in the posturing. He turns away from Steve and looks at Wanda. “As for you, something a little more…permanent is required.”

“Don’t you touch her.” Steve threatens him and Strange just waves his hand and Steve’s bound in the same gold chains as everyone else. Wanda takes a small step back, her magic surrounding her and her eyes showing a small amount of uncertain fear. “Get away from her.”

“I’m not going to harm her.” Strange tells him. “I’m just going to make sure that she does not harm anyone else.” He stands in front of her and he just dispels all attacks that she throws at him.

“Back off…just…stay away from me.” Wanda says, her voice shaking slightly and taking a small step back and Strange just gives her a look.

“Interesting, you’ll bask in the fear of someone who can’t stop you but the moment you’re faced with someone you can’t influence you’re shaking like a baby.” He says ‘interesting’ but Steve hears ‘pathetic’. He does that hand gesture thing and two golden cuffs appear on Wanda’s wrists, thicker than the thin bracelet on Tony’s wrist but similar in composition. Immediately, the red magic surrounding Wanda disappears and she makes a wounded noise, stumbling back.

“What did you do?” Steve growls and Strange doesn’t turn to look at him.

“I have bound your magic.” He tells Wanda. “You will be permitted to use it for self-defense and for moments of training, but you will not be allowed to use it against anybody anymore. Through your careless and callus actions you have brought this judgement upon yourself. When you show that you have the ability to properly use your powers they will be released and returned to you, if you do not – then they will remain sealed forever.”

“You can’t do that!” Steve growls and Strange just turns to look at him.

“I am the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth.” He says with a heavy sort of finality. “It is my sworn duty to contain and police magic everywhere. Miss Maximoff has fallen under my jurisdiction with her misuse of her powers. I am _well_ within my rights to seal them away and she should be grateful. I could have taken them from her.” He turns back to Wanda. “But I have given you a chance to redeem yourself. Use it wisely, very few people get a chance like this.” He walks away from her and takes them all in again. “Now, I think I’ve made my point. Bring harm to Tony again either by action or inaction, intent or accident and you will deal with _me_. And I will not be as merciful or as understanding as he has been. Am I clear? This is your one and only warning. I will not be as friendly next time we meet if you decide to continue on in this behavior.” He looks at all of them and he must see something he agrees with because he nods. “Good.”

+++

Everett Ross walks into the Compound with the look of someone who really doesn’t want to be there.

“Hello Councilmember.” Tony greets, coming over and shaking his hand and Everett takes it easily.

“Hello again Mr. Stark.” Everett replies. “I’m sorry to hear that the team has had some problems recently.”

“That’s why you’re here I take it?” Tony asks. “I will admit, the personal touch of coming in person is appreciated.”

“We want to make sure that everything is running smoothly and properly as per the temporary agreements set up between everyone.”

“Oh, and how are the new Accords coming along? I’ll admit I haven’t had a chance to touch base on them for the last few weeks.” Tony says as he leads Everett to the conference room where everyone else is waiting. It’ll be the first time that Tony’s seen them since Stephen’s little ‘talk’ in the Mirror Dimension and he’s slightly curious how it’s going to play out.

“I’ll have a new draft sent out to you by this afternoon if you’d like.”

“I would, thank you.” Tony says and he holds open the door for Everett. The other Avengers look up with varying degrees of frowns on their faces but Steve soldiers on and puts a fake smile on his face as he shakes the man’s hand.

“Councilmember. Thanks for coming.” Steve says and Everett nods.

“Of course, as I was saying to Mr. Stark, we’re very interested in maintaining an open communication and friendly working relationship between the Council and the Avengers.” He tells him. “Now, should we just jump right in? I have a few concerning complaints to go over with everyone.” They all nod and Tony pretends not to see the disappointed looks or outright glares that get sent in his direction. “Now, the first matter of business…this…behavior I guess that Mr. Stark sent our way is something that we need to discuss immediately. The harassment of an Avenger by another Avenger cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.”

“We were just trying to talk to him.” Steve says and Ross takes a moment.

“That’s not how it looked in the video files that Mr. Stark sent to us.”

“You sent him footage?” Clint snaps, looking at Tony. “Did you also send him footage of your little attack dog and how he attacked us?”

“Is this the ‘Doctor Strange’ we’ve been hearing so much about?” Everett asks, looking at all of them and they all nod. “We will admit to being curious about all of that.” He looks at Tony.

“Unfortunately, Doctor Strange isn’t interested in becoming an Avenger.” Tony tells him. “And as such, I don’t have much to say about him. To be quite honest, I don’t know much to begin with. He’s a rather recent acquaintance.”

“But he contained Miss Maximoff’s powers?” Everett asks, glancing at Wanda and the girl’s lip quivers and her eyes water in a stunning display of bullshit that Tony almost wants to slow clap for.

“He did.” Tony replies.

“He had no right.” Steve argues suddenly and Everett looks unsure as Tony sighs.

“As he mentioned to them before, he presides over magic. Wanda misused hers and fell on his radar. He came and dealt with it.” Tony says and he feels like he’s the only one who sees how Everett doesn’t look put out by Wanda’s lack of magical abilities.

“He needs to undo it.” Steve demands and Tony shakes his head.

“I don’t control or command him.” Tony says and Steve looks at Ross.

“Surely there is something the Council can do? There’s a man out there using his powers against other people without their consent.” He implores and Everett gets a pinched look.

“Unfortunately, the footage that Mr. Stark gave did show Miss Maximoff attempting to use her powers on him without a significant reason. Even if this Doctor Strange had not done something so…spectacular about it, we would have been forced to respond ourselves.”

“What?” Clint snaps and Everett just squares his shoulders.

“The bands seem kinder than the collar would have been, don’t you agree?” He asks and it sets the rogues off like a predictable powder keg.

“The collar? No! We wouldn’t have put the collar back on her.” Steve snaps and Everett shakes his head.

“She attacked a civilian and a teammate unprovoked with her powers. Even without the Accords in place that kind of behavior is unacceptable and we would have been required to act on some kind of…deterrent for it.”

“You’re pleased that Strange did it.” Natasha says, looking at him. “The Council agrees with it.”

“We are not pleased that it had to come to such a drastic response, but we are also relieved to see that there are ways of…containment for certain things when they step over the line of what’s acceptable and what is not.” Everett tells them and Tony almost wants to laugh. Of course the Council is pleased with some way to control the Witch. They’ve been terrified of the volatile woman since she showed up on the scene and with no real way to stop her or prevent her from doing whatever the hell it was she wanted he can see why Stephen’s actions have created a kind of security blanket for them. “We do wish to discuss this with this Doctor Strange though.”

“I’ll pass on the message, but I don’t know when the next time we’ll see each other is or if he’ll accept it.” Tony warns him and Everett nods.

“Understood. Since the Accords are not in affect, we have no real authority to tell this Doctor Strange that he cannot do what he has done. We have no jurisdiction over specialized people since the fall through of the first Accords and if he does have some kind of…authority granted to him by appropriate powers that be, we might never have authority over him.” Everett says and Tony can’t help but want to laugh at the angry look on Steve’s and the others faces. Of course, everyone else needs to be contained and policed but not them. How dare others get the same treatment as they do? “However, in response to what went down with Mr. Stark in his room…” Ross looks at Tony. “The Council has agreed to your request to be stationed outside of the Compound and away from the other Avengers.”

“Thank you.” Tony says and he hears some sputtering.

“What? Tony’s leaving?” Steve asks and he sounds so confused and surprised. “Why?”

“Because Mr. Stark has requested it and with the evidence of an unhealthy and unsafe working environment, we agreed to the request.” Ross says. “You will all still be working together of course and will still be expected to perform your duties, but outside of that we see no reason why Mr. Stark should be contained to the Compound since he has various other locations nearby and will be able to respond in a sufficient time period should an emergency arise.”

“Thank you Councilmember.” Tony says again and Ross goes over a few more things with the rogues – nothing to their satisfaction since they don’t get their hands held like its clear Steve expected to keep happening and Tony stands up with Ross when the meeting is over. “I’ll walk you out.” Tony says as he gets up and leaves the rogues standing there in the room without a backwards glance. He sends a text to Vision to inform him of the choice before he waves goodbye and lets the armor take him away from the Compound and those backstabbers.

He’s still got a lot of work to do, but at least now he won’t have ridiculous, annoying distractions.

…and he’s rather pleased with the bonus that Wanda’s claws have been clipped. That’s more than enough to put a little pep in his step and put a smile on his face.

+++

(Amazing Artwork Gifted By hehe from LOFTER! Thank you!!)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Next chapter for you all!   
> Tony's finally getting out and getting some things off his chest and Steve's blindsided by a revelation Sam gives him.   
> Enjoy!

The Compound is filled with people in Stark Industries uniforms, carrying marked boxes out to trucks and helping Tony close up shop in the Avengers Compound. Tony figures that he’s not surprised in the slightest when the previously rogue Avengers come up to him during the move. They stand by for a little while in silence, watching over the procession in front of them as if they don’t know what to say to him. He basks in the silence for as long as it lasts.

“Tony, be reasonable.” Natasha says finally and Tony doesn’t even care to try and hide the sigh that slips past his lips as he signs off on the next tablet. “The Compound is the home for the Avengers. You should be here.”

“The Avengers Compound is the main location for the Avengers Initiative, but as you recall I received approval and permission to go about my business outside of it.” Tony tells her as he nods at the worker with a smile and hands off the tablet to them.

“There’s a reason why we all chose to live together and work out the Avengers Initiative this way.” Natasha reminds him. “It was to make sure that we would all be safe and so we could all watch each other’s backs and so we could all be present in the case of an emergency.”

“Well, as you no doubt recall – I’m on standby anyways.” Tony tells her as he continues on with his work. “And as for ‘safe’, I don’t see how having people storm around threatening to kick down my door at eight in the morning when I’m trying to take a shower and then use their powers against me is ‘safe’, but if that makes you feel safe I guess that’s your prerogative. I disagree fundamentally with it though, so I’m out.”

“You’re the one who’s been acting crazy.” Clint tells him and Tony actually turns to shoot him a ‘you can’t seriously be _that_ dumb’ look over his shoulder. “You’re the one who’s been keeping secrets and doing who knows what.”

“Well now you don’t have to worry about it.” Tony tells him, looking away again.

“Tony…please just… _stop_.” Steve pleads and Tony has to mentally count down from ten to keep himself from taking the tablet in his hands and breaking it over Steve’s face. “I know that you’re angry…but this? This is wrong and you know it.”

“The only thing I _know_ for sure is that you’re a hypocritical liar and a piece of shit, and I also know that I don’t want anything to do with any of you.”

“You admitted that you don’t even know this guy.” Steve argues, completely ignoring what Tony’s said and Tony’s not even surprised. “And you’re letting him use his powers on you? On _Wanda?_ ”

“Yup. Sounds about right.” Tony says cheerily as he signs off on the next tablet and hands it off. “At least I _consented_ to that magic being used on me. You know, as opposed to the _other option_.” He glances at Wanda who glares at him and he has no doubts that if she could use her magic he’d been in a world of hurt – witnesses or no.

“Wanda didn’t consent.” Steve tells him gently and Tony shrugs.

“Well you know what they say. ‘What goes around comes around’ or even ‘You reap what you sow’ or some other variation of that.” He replies and he sees the rage write itself across all of their faces. “Look, I honestly don’t know why you’re wasting any of our times. I’m not staying. I’m not coming off the sidelines unless required. I’m not telling you jack shit about Stephen and I’m not interested in doing whatever the hell all of this is.” Tony tells them.

“Tony we’re your friends.” Natasha says and Tony rolls his eyes.

“Well I could certainly do with a few less ‘friends’ like you.” He says, clapping his hands together after that. “FRI is that the last of it?”

**_‘Yes Boss.’_ **

“Okay, you know the drill. Keep an eye on it until Rhodey signs off for it.” He tells her and he gets a green light. “Well then.” He turns to look at them. “I would say it’s been a pleasure – but I’d be lying.”

“We’re still going to be seeing each other Tony.” Steve reminds him. “The Council agreed to let you house yourself outside of the Compound but you’re still required to come in for team meetings and training exercises.”

“True.” Tony says with a slight nod. “Well, partially true. I have to come here for _legitimate_ meetings so don’t think you’re going to assign fifteen in a month or something because it’s not going to work and ‘team exercises’ are only required once a month. That gives me twenty nine days of absolute bliss away from all of this.” He motions to them. “And I’m going to enjoy it.”

“Tony, why are you being this way man?” Sam asks, his voice sounding so confused and Tony shakes his head.

“I’m sorry, this is who I am. ‘Tony Stark the asshole’ isn’t that what you all always claimed? Don’t go getting angry because I’m finally treating you the way you claimed I was this whole time. You used to say I didn’t care about any of you – well, _this_ is what that actually looks like. Welcome to the new regime.” Tony tells them with a sharp smile. “There is no more ‘comradery’ or ‘togetherness’.” Tony rolls his eyes at that word. “I’m not paying for you anymore, I’m not responsible for making your weapons or your suits, I’m not responsible for you at all and let me say – that is certainly the most amazing, freeing thing that’s happened to me in _years_.”

“This ‘Stephen’ isn’t your friend Tony.” Natasha tries again and Tony almost wants to give her a gold star or something for effort.

“And?” Tony asks her and he sees a brief flash of annoyance cross her face. “Oh was that it? ‘He’s not your friend Tony’ well that’s true of everyone here in this room so I’m not seeing the point.”

“We’re your friends Tony.” Steve whispers and Tony ignores him. “And if this Strange guy is threatening you or something then just talk to us. We’ll help you, you know that.”

“Wait, hold up. How did we now get to the idea that he’s ‘threatening’ me? Because that’s some mental Olympics right there.”

“He’s used his powers on you, he attacked us and he made it to where Wanda can’t defend herself anymore.” Steve tells him and Tony rolls his eyes.

“One – I _let_ him do what he did, remember that little detail? Two – you’re insane if you think _that_ was Stephen ‘attacking’ you, and three – Wanda’s not notorious for using her powers for ‘defense’ so I don’t think I’ll be shedding a tear for how that turned out.”

“He said you were under his protection.” Natasha says and Tony’s pretty sure that there’s something that crosses his face at that. “What did he mean by that?”

“And this conversation is over.” Tony says, grabbing his jacket and pulling it on. “I’ll see you when I see you. Best of luck.”

“Stark stop being an ass and just _tell_ us.” Clint snaps at him. “We’re trying to look out for your stupid ass and you’re being difficult about it.”

“I didn’t ask you to look out for my – frankly _fantastic_ – ass.” Tony tells him. “And I’m not interested in anyone’s protection.”

“But you need it.” Sam points out. “Somethings happened and you need it. That’s why Strange is here, that’s why he was here that first day and why he showed up the other day. Because you need protection. We’re just trying to figure out what’s happened man and help you. Even if you don’t like us, we’re all Avengers. We look out for each other.”

“No.” Tony says with a shake of his head.

“No?” Sam repeats.

“No, you look out for _each other_. You’ve never looked out for me.” Tony tells them with absolute certainty. “You’ve only ever condemned me and blamed me for everything under the sun and you did it while walking all over and spitting on my trust.” Tony says. “So trust me when I say, if I need help – if I find out that I can’t do this on my own, there will _never_ be a situation where your names will be on the list of people I call for assistance.”

“That’s dangerous Tony.” Natasha says with a shake of her head and Tony mimics it.

“No, you’re all dangerous and you’re dangerous to me. I’m done with that. It’s a new day. New opportunities.”

“You’re going to regret this Stark.” Clint tells him and Tony just looks at him.

“I’ve regretted a lot of things in my life Barton. Telling all of you to go take a hike isn’t one of them. It’s certainly long in coming, but it’s not ever going to be something I regret.” Tony replies. “And on that note, goodbye.” He slides on his sunglasses and throws them all a peace sign as he walks out of the Compound and slides behind the wheel of his car. He sees them staring off after him in the rearview mirror and he just shakes his head.

Douches.

+++

The Compound is unnaturally quiet and Steve doesn’t know what to do with that. There’s something inherently wrong with the knowledge that if he goes downstairs all he’s going to find is empty rooms where Tony used to reside.

It feels like an open wound and Tony just keeps rubbing salt in it.

“Hey Steve.” Sam says gently, coming over and leaning against the balcony next to him. “How are you doing?”

“Did the others send you?” Steve asks and Sam huffs out an amused sound.

“Yeah, we voted. I’m up first.”

“Who’s next? Natasha?”

“Nah, she’s the last resort. The big guns as it were. Clint’s up next.” Sam tells him with a small smile. He leans over and nudges Steve’s arm with his own. “They’re worried man. They don’t like seeing you like this.”

“Sorry…I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” Steve says and Sam snorts.

“Dude, you’ve got one thing on your mind and that’s clear as day.” Sam tells him and Steve gives him a tiny smile.

“Okay…maybe that’s true.” He admits. “I’m just…I’m worried I guess. I can’t help but think that he’s out there under the impression that we don’t care about him and I don’t know how to change that.” Sam gets a strange little look on his face and Steve glances at him fully.

“What?”

“Well…I mean is he _wrong_?” Sam asks and Steve just stares at him uncomprehendingly.

“We care about him, you know that.” Steve says and Sam tilts his head.

“Steve…can I be frank with you man?” Sam asks and Steve nods. “Okay…Stark wasn’t exactly coming out of left field with all this shit he’s spouting.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…well Clint’s always the first to drag him, Natasha’s got this slightly creepy fixation with bringing up his ego or something anytime he so much as speaks a word. Wanda’s been making Stark Voodoo dolls since she arrived and while you might be in love with the guy I’ll admit that I’m not here nor there on him.” Sam tells him and Steve feels himself tense. “I mean sure, we talk a good game, family and friends and the team and all that…but I mean it’s just talk. I know you like to think we’re the knights at the round table or something but there’s always been a clear hierarchy and Stark’s always been on the bottom. I’m not surprised he’s telling us to go screw ourselves. I’m actually a little surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”

“I’m not in love with Tony.” Steve tells him and Sam gives him an arched eyebrow.

“Man, I’m surprised I didn’t find you writing ‘Mr. Steve Stark-Rogers’ or something on a notebook when we were in Wakanda. You’ve been mooning after the guy for as long as I’ve been around.”

“No I haven’t.” Steve replies and Sam gets a look.

“Okay, well that’s going to have to be something you deal with on your own because those sorts of revelations are outside of my wheelhouse. PTSD – call me up. Not being ready to handle your massive gay crush for the world’s hottest, most eligible bachelor? Not so much.” Sam gives him a tiny smile. “I mean, props dude. You don’t aim low. I might not be interested but I’d have to be blind and stupid not to appreciate all of that.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Steve reiterates and Sam just shakes his head.

“Whatever man. Just…come inside okay? You’re worrying the kids.” Sam tells him before he claps him on the shoulder and goes inside. Steve stays where he is for a few moments.

He’s not in love with Tony, that’s ridiculous. He just respects the guy. He likes hanging out with him. He likes hearing him talk or watching him create new breakthroughs down in the labs.

His mind pulls up the image of Tony in his room, the oversized shirt hanging slightly off his frame with his messy hair, and Steve is sure he’s blushing.

That’s just because Sam’s right though. Someone would have to be dead not to find Tony Stark attractive and maybe even then. But Steve’s not in _love_ with Tony.

He’s not.

He’s just worried about him and with good reason.

He sighs and pushes off the balcony and goes back inside, putting on a smile for everyone. First things first. He’s got a team to look after before he can start chasing after their wayward member. Once Steve’s got everyone settled back in he can turn his full attention to Tony and find a way to bring him back into the fold.

There has to be a way and Steve isn’t going to give up until he finds it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This chapters a little longer than the others and I had to cut it off where I did because the whole scene just kept going so it'll roll over into the next chapter as well. :-)  
> Warnings for this chapter - Delusional Team Cap. Tony being done with their crap.  
> That pretty much sums it up.  
> Enjoy!

It’s exactly a month the next time that Steve sees Tony in person.

It’s not without multiple attempts to see him prior to that. Steve’s been trying to get a required meeting set up before then, but their ‘in good faith’ agreement with the temporary Accords Council prevented it. Steve’s not really sure how the final workup of the working relationship between the Avengers and the Council is going to look but he certainly has quite a few notes for their next session:

  * **One** : They don’t get to give the authorization for members to create a barrier between them and the other Avengers without Steve’s – or the current team leaders – approval.
  * **Two** : They don’t get to decide what a ‘required’ team meeting is. If Steve has called it and says it’s required, then it’s required. Period, and everyone will be present whether they want to be or not.
  * **Three** : They don’t get to decide how Steve runs his team and their training schedules. If Steve thinks that a particular member requires more training time with the team then it should be an open and shut case.
  * **Four** : Issues between the team will be handled in house. If a member has a problem with another then they come to Steve first and foremost. None of this ‘sending footage’ bull and going behind Steve’s back to blow a situation out of proportion.



Tony’s been hiding behind the Council’s skirts for these last few weeks, using this time of uncertainty and confusion to his advantage and Steve is beyond not appreciating it. Tony’s a member of the Avengers, a member of Steve’s team and whether he likes it or not, Steve is the leader by vote and agreement. Steve’s not going to keep allowing Tony to use the Council as his own personal ‘get back at Steve’ card.

As it stands though, the first meeting that Steve’s able to fully mark as a required meeting happens a month later and he sees Tony’s car pull up outside the Compound about six minutes before its scheduled time. The car is red, and flashy like all of Tony’s cars are, and the brunet steps out of it with all the arrogance born of his family namesake. He looks good though, with those sunglasses on his face and his perfectly pressed suit tailored to his body to perfection. He tosses his outer suit jacket over his shoulder as he locks the car and walks up the steps and enters the Compound with a sure, confident stride.

Steve’s pleased to see that Tony looks completely healthy. He will admit to being a little worried that Tony might neglect his body’s basic health needs and work himself to the bone down wherever his new lab is located without them there to harp on him for it, but seeing him now puts that worry to rest. Tony walks past them as he makes his way to the conference room without so much as a glance or a hello in any of their directions.

It’s an obvious attempt at a power move and Steve wants to sigh.

“No, I think it’s a great idea. You’re only a true freshmen once after all and I think it’s important to see all your options.” Tony’s speaking into his earpiece as he takes a sip of his drink. “Nah, don’t worry about it. Have ADI touch base with KAREN and FRIDAY. I’ll cover any airfare, transportation and room fees for you two. I only have one requirement.” Tony says and he sounds so serious to whoever he’s talking to. “When you guys do the campus tour of MIT, I get to be there…Excellent.”

“We’re in a meeting Stark.” Clint tells him when Tony steps into the conference room and continues to ignore them.

“Nah, I’m at the Compound for a few hours today. Touching base with the rogues and all that.” Tony says into the phone and Steve bristles at the name he’s given them as he goes and takes the seat in the far corner of the room. It’s the chair that he always used to take in these meetings but something about the separation from the table irks Steve now. “We’ve got a thirty minute long meeting and then a two hour long training session.” Tony says as he drapes his jacket over the back of the chair and takes a seat like a king on a throne. “Don’t worry about it. Have FRIDAY give you the green light and I’ll talk to you later, but I’ve got to go. This meeting starts in exactly thirty five seconds.” Tony says with a glance at his watch. There’s a pause before he gets the softest, fondest smile that Steve thinks he’s ever seen on Tony’s face before. “Me too.” He says. “Talk to you later Harl.” He reaches up and taps the earpiece before he pulls off his sunglasses and looks at Steve expectantly.

“Oh, _now_ we exist?” Clint snaps at him and Tony just leans back in his chair, throwing one arm over the back and looking strangely in charge of the whole situation.

“For the next two hours and thirty minutes? Unfortunately, yes.” Tony snarks back at him before returning his gaze to Steve. “So should we begin or is this meeting already adjourned?”

“No, we’re starting now.” Steve tells him as he takes a seat and motions to one of the empty ones at the table. “Come sit at the table with us Tony.”

“No thanks. I’m good where I am.” Tony replies and Steve bites down on the inside of his cheek. He sends a quick glance at Natasha and she gives him a tiny shake of her head telling him not to push it today and Steve inwardly sighs before he turns his attention back to Tony.

“We need to discuss potential threats to the Avengers, and issues from within that have arisen.” Steve says, making eye contact with Tony and the brunet seems unconcerned. “First and foremost, we need to discuss Iron Man’s role, responsibilities and what is expected of you Tony going forward.” Tony doesn’t budge or show any outward sign of assent. “We also need to discuss this Doctor Strange.” That gets a reaction – namely Tony rolling his eyes with an annoyed sigh as he just crosses his legs and looks back at Steve with a kind of bored irritation. Steve can’t help how his eyes travel to the rolled up sleeve and the gold band still on Tony’s wrist. “We want you to come back to the Compound.”

“No.” Tony replies easily.

“We’re willing to agree that how we handled the situation was improper.” Steve tells him. “It won’t happen again.”

“No it won’t, because I won’t be coming back.” Tony tells him with a careless sort of tone. Like he’s not even considering what Steve’s offering.

“The Council is going to take back the agreement they had with you when they see the steps that we’ve taken to ensure that something like what happened doesn’t happen again.” Natasha says and Tony just gives her an amused look, like he’s not buying what she’s selling.

“Even if they do, I’m not coming back.” Tony says with absolute certainty. “The labs been moved and there’s no reason for me to stay here. The Manor is twice as secure as the Compound is. I’ll be staying put.”

“Tony, we all need to be here.” Steve tells him. “Together where we can watch out for one another.”

“No.” Tony replies to that. “Now, I believe we were going to discuss what the ‘on the sidelines’ looks like to you and what I’m willing to concede to in regards to it.”

“If you want to continue being an Avenger Tony like you claim you want to be, you’re going to listen to Steve.” Clint tells him and Tony just ignores him.

“I want to pull you off the sidelines. Iron Man deserves to be out in the field.” Steve says, giving Tony a small smile. “I want to get the whole team back together and working together like we used to.” He looks at Tony and Tony takes a moment before he shakes his head.

“No thanks.”

“Seriously Tony?” Natasha asks, sounding frustrated. “We get it, you’re punishing us because you lost, but this is bigger than all of that. The Avengers need to be above your fragile ego, I thought you understood that.”

“The Avengers are a broken ideal that is on life support and is somehow just limping along, and quite frankly is rather painful to watch.” Tony says and Steve can’t help but hear a separation that Tony’s giving them. It’s not ‘We’re a broken ideal’ it’s ‘The Avengers’, like Tony’s not a part of the institution anymore. What has this small time of separation between them done to them all?

“You’re an Avenger Tony.” Steve tells him and Tony shrugs.

“I’m on standby.” He replies flippantly. “Where I’m going to remain until I deem it time to come to you and request to be taken off of it. You wanted me to step down, I’ve stepped down. That was _my_ _choice_ and it will be _my choice_ to come back. Not a second sooner, no matter what temper tantrums anyone throws.”

“Funny mentioning temper tantrums Stark when you’re the only one throwing one.” Clint tells him and Tony just shrugs.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night Barton.” He replies to him before he looks Steve in the eyes. “Iron Man is off the field, next matter of business please.” Steve struggles to contain the urge to tug at his hair and he contemplates how to phrase his words in such a way that the brunet will see the wisdom of them.

“We’re a team Tony, and we’re stronger together.” Steve implores and his words don’t seem to move Tony in the slightest. “Not to mention as we’ve already learned, you need protection. We can do that better if you’re here.” Tony rolls his eyes with an amused huff.

“Everyone keeps trying to use that excuse to get me to move in with them.” He mutters to himself, chuckling slightly. “But no can do Cap-Attack.” He says. “Even if I needed protection, which I’m not saying I do, I’d go so far as to say that I’d need additional protection _from you_ rather than have you protect me from some unknown third party.”

“Tony-”

“No, and that’s final. Move on or I’m going to cut my losses and just take the ten minute lecture I’ll get from Ross for walking out on the team meeting.” Tony tells him and Steve takes a moment to calm himself before he looks down at the papers in his hands.

“FRIDAY is no longer available to the Compound?” Steve asks and Tony nods. “We need it back up and running. If you’re going to be staying outside the Compound we need a direct line to you.”

“ _She’s_ not interested in being the go between girl and I’m not going to make her.” Tony tells him. “If you want to contact me, you know my cellphone number. Call it.”

“You don’t answer.” Steve points out and Tony shrugs.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t know about the call.” He replies and the subtle dig at all of those intentionally ignored calls makes Steve clench his fist.

“Tony man, I don’t want to be the one who has to come out and say it, but you’re being a dick.” Sam says to the brunet and Tony shrugs.

“And?”

“And stop it.” Sam tells him. “It’s not helping anything.”

“No, what’s not helping is this almost pathological need to ignore my free will and my decisions and to try to override them and act as though my choices are somehow less valid or weighed less than any of yours.” Tony retorts. “Stop doing that and I’ll stop acting the way you deserve.” He pauses. “…probably.”

“Your choices aren’t less Tony.” Steve starts to say and Tony looks him in the eye.

“Then respect my choice to stay away and stay on standby, and maybe I’ll start to believe you.” He challenges Steve and Steve wants to push back against that and say that those are two totally different things, but he holds his tongue for now. They’ll approach the issue later when Tony’s not feeling so antagonistic for some reason.

“Fine, we’ll drop it for now.” Steve tells him and he gets looks from everyone else at the table but he just presses on. “We need to discuss something else anyways.” He looks at Tony. “We need to talk about Doctor Strange.”

“Oh my god not this again.” Tony mutters to himself, rolling his eyes.

“This is important Tony. He attacked us. He hurt Wanda.”

“He defended himself and me,” Tony replies to that. “And he didn’t hurt Wanda.”

“She can’t use her powers.”

“I’m under the impression that she can, in the specific situations that she should have only been using them for in the first place.” Tony tells him. “Training, missions and self-defense.”

“It wasn’t his place to make that choice for her.” Steve says and Clint leans forward.

“Yeah, Mr. ‘Respect Choices’.” He taunts and Tony shrugs.

“She did make her choice though. She made a choice to attack me without reason to take information that wasn’t her right to take. I know this is a strange new concept to the lot of you that you might not fully understand but I’ll speak slowly. Sometimes when you do bad things, there are consequences.”

“She didn’t hurt you Tony. She was trying to help.” Steve says and Tony looks at him.

“Your supposed belief behind her intentions means nothing. She shouldn’t have been using her magic against me period. Whether it was intended to be painful or not, it shouldn’t have happened.”

“She was just trying to find out-” Steve starts but Tony cuts him off.

“It shouldn’t have happened.” He says firmly. “There is no excuse or reasoning that you can offer or that you even should _try_ to offer that tries to justify what happened. What you all stood by and would have let happen because you would have gotten something you wanted out of it.”

“That’s not what happened.” Steve fires back at him and Tony rolls his eyes.

“So you claim. I’m not telling you a damn thing about Strange. My stance on that hasn’t changed.”

“He’s magic yes?” Natasha slides into the conversation, giving Steve a much needed moment to get himself back under control. “Why would a magic user need to interact with you? You hate magic, why do you need protection from someone who uses it?”

“I’ll agree – magic is the bane to my sanity. I dislike it on a fundamental level.” Tony replies. “As for why Strange and I crossed paths, well that’s between me and him.”

“Were you fucking around with something you weren’t supposed to?” Clint asks. “What? Can’t do enough damage with science you have to go into another wheelhouse you know nothing about and start fucking up things there too? Did he show up to slap you on the wrist? Is he guarding you or is he protecting you?”

“None of your business.” Tony replies.

“Nah man, I side with Clint. Maybe not with the way he’s saying it, but with what he’s saying. If something’s gone wrong, we need to know about it.” Sam says and Tony shakes his head.

“What’s going on with Strange and I is none of your business.” Tony repeats. “If Strange has chosen to interact with me then that’s between us as well and once again is none of your business.”

“We’re your team Tony.” Steve tells him and he feels like he’s a broken record on repeat. “We’re just trying to look out for you.”

“Well I’m not asking you to.” Tony replies. “If I need your help – which is doubtful and I’ll probably just die – I’ll ask for it.”

“Someone’s trying to kill you?” Natasha jumps on that phrasing and Tony sighs and just shakes his head.

“Romanov, so many people have tried to kill me including several in this room that it’s a given at this point. It’s like saying water is wet.” He says. “But that’s my problem. Not yours.” There’s a lull in the conversation after that.

“He said that he had some kind of authority over magic users.” Sam offers up when none of them know how to fill in the conversation. “What does that mean?”

“That he has some kind of authority over magic users.” Tony retorts easily and Steve almost wants to drop his head down onto the table and knock it against it a few times. This isn’t getting them anywhere.

“Who _gave_ him that authority?” Sam tries and Tony shrugs.

“I don’t know.”

“You have to know something about him Tony.” Natasha argues and Tony nods.

“Oh I know a lot about him, just nothing I’m willing to share.”

“This is an Avengers issue now Tony. Doctor Strange is possibly a potential enemy to the Avengers.” Steve tells him and Tony snorts.

“Well I wish you the best of luck on _that._ ” He replies. “But I’m not sharing. Put your spider on it, I’ll admit I’m curious to see how that’ll play out.” There’s something in his voice that sounds like he’s mocking Natasha’s abilities.

“Tony that’s enough.” Steve scolds him and Tony nods.

“Yes it is. I’ve drawn the line on the Strange issue. Either respect it and move on or deal with the fact that we’re all just going to be going around in circles for the last twelve minutes.”

“He’s dangerous Tony.” Steve implores and Tony sighs.

“At least he doesn’t leave people to die in frozen wastelands.” Tony says back to him and it’s the only time that Tony holds his gaze, but Steve glances away. “Let me be perfectly clear. If you draw the line in the sand that declares Strange an enemy of the Avengers, then I will leave. Permanently.”

“What?” Steve and several others say as they stare at the brunet.

“You once asked me where I stood, during that little posturing bullshit in the kitchen that night. If you make him your enemy then I stand with him. Period.”

“You barely know him!”

“But I know you.” Tony replies to Steve’s outraged comment. “And that’s all the information that I need these days to make that kind of choice.”

“You’re against us?” Clint says, sounding both fascinated and annoyed. “You’re throwing in your lot with an outsider?”

“…Yes.” Tony replies and it’s like all the air leaves the room. “If you push the issue, I will resign from the Avengers on a permanent basis.”

“Tony…” Steve says and he can’t help the surprise and confusion in his voice. He never realized that it was this bad between them. That Tony would even consider leaving their side to go fight on someone else’s. Even Steve knows that during the Civil War, Tony was only fighting against them for them. This? This is something different.

How on earth were they supposed to fix this?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow guys! I'm loving the response to this story!   
> Here's the next chapter for you all! Not a lot of answers on the 'Strange and Tony' thing, but some forward movement by Tony against the Rogers Institution.  
> Enjoy!

There’s a heavy silence that goes through the room after his little revelation and Tony just waits it out with an arched eyebrow. He’s tempted to make some kind of sarcastic quip or something, but he’d rather not waste his time or his wit on these people.

It’s amazing what some time can do. First the time created but the lull of the pardons coming down the pipeline. Tony hadn’t even realized how deep their claws into him had been until they hadn’t been there for those two months, it had been like having a shackle cut from his neck and he hadn’t known that it’d even been there in the first place. Their little bullshit posturing and pathetic attempts to return everything to the way it was prior to everything was crystal clear in that kind of absence and now having this month away to really settle in and prepare for these freeloading backstabbers had been nirvana.

Well, apart from the whole ‘issue’ and training thing. That still sucked, but at least now he’s getting a hang of it. Stephen is still completely amused by Tony’s hopeless fumbling and failings, but at least the really big mistakes are coming fewer and further in-between. Plus, as a bonus, Danny’s ‘meditation – find your center’ training seemed to be helping, or at the very least it seemed to be doing _something_ in regards to his nerves and his anxiety.

“Tony…” Steve seems to force out past the look of absolute bafflement and concern on his face and Tony just glances his way with a ‘what Steve?’ look. He’s curious what the blond is going to try and throw at him, but he’s disappointed when nothing comes.

“You trust Strange that much?” Natasha asks, looking him in the eyes and he can see her looking for information, for cracks or something and it’s painfully obvious. “You trust him so much that you’d turn against your own team?”

“I’ve said what I said.” Tony tells her, uninterested in opening up a dialogue. “Now, do we have something else to discuss in this timeframe or are we moving on?”

“You want us to train with you now that you just admitted that you’ll stab us in the back?” Clint snorts and Tony just looks him in the eye.

“At least I did you the service of telling you, instead of hiding behind false friendships until your back was turned.” Tony tells him calmly and he sees Clint’s face darken and he goes to stand but Sam puts a hand on his arm and tugs him back down.

“What is going on with you Tony?” Natasha asks and there’s a soft note of _concern_ that’s in her tone and Tony sighs at it.

“Nothing much. Busy, like normal. Lots of projects at SI, lots of projects for the Accords, lots of personal projects. Busy, busy, busy.” Tony tells her flippantly. “Which is why I’d like to keep us to schedule. We’re almost done with this part by the way, and if you all no longer feel _comfortable_ training with me then I’ll gladly head out.”

“No, we want you here Tony.” Steve says and there’s just something about how he says it – that kind of hopeful, I always cared about you tone that just rubs Tony the wrong way.

“Why?” He asks and that seems to catch them off guard. “Why do you want me here? You do realize the mixed signals you’re sending yes?”

“Mixed signals?” Sam mutters and Tony nods.

“Iron Man Yes, Tony Stark No.” Tony says, listing it off. “’You may not be a threat but you better stop _pretending_ to be a hero’.” He taps off another finger. “Something blah blah about my ego, really there are too many so just make something stupid sounding up I’m sure it’s been said.” Tony taps off another finger with a roll of his eyes. “Something about being only a rich kid playacting, or someone who is only in it for the glory and the adrenaline and therefore can’t be trusted. Which let’s be honest is the dumbest thing ever. There are _much_ easier ways to go about that.” Tony ticks off another finger. “A whole slew of comments about not being able to be trusted after everything, about not being a ‘team player’ whatever that means to you guys I don’t know since the definition seems to always change depending on your mood that day.” Tony looks at them all. “So tell me, because I’m really curious. _Why_ do you want me here so badly?”

“Tony, we’re your friends.” Steve tells him. “We’re your team, your family.”

“Not anymore, and to be honest that’s not an answer. It’s a non-answer. Give me specifics. Give me data to work with.” There’s no answer to his question. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Look, I get it. Good job, honest. I tip my hat to you.” Tony claps at them, slightly mockingly. “You played your hand well while you still could. You got free room and board, you got money thrown at you for any little thing you looked twice at, you got equipment and top of the line weapons that no one else could get their hands on, you got to run around being ‘heroes’ while I stayed back and played the scapegoat and cleaned up all your messes to keep you guys bright, sparkling and clean in the world’s eyes at the expense of myself. Hell, if I were you I wouldn’t want that walking away either – but those days are over.”

“Tony it wasn’t like that.” Natasha tells him gently and Tony rolls his eyes so hard that he thinks he might have seen the inside of his skull. He glances at his watch and lets out a relieved sigh.

“Oh thank god. This meeting is adjourned. On to the training grounds, yes? Chop chop people.” Tony tells them as he stands up and grabs his jacket, walking out of the doors and just leaving them behind. It takes them a good seven minutes to follow and in that time Tony’s already looking over the suit that he’s called in for today. It’s one of the older models, so old that he had to adjust it to add an internal ARC reactor power source in order to get it to run. It has a new paintjob though and it looks good as new.

“What’s that?” Clint asks and Tony gives him a look over his shoulder.

“If you don’t know what this is, then you might want to go get your head checked out because I’m concerned.” Tony tells him. “It’s the Iron Man armor.”

“…it’s old.” Steve says and Tony nods with a grin.

“I know, and still kick ass. Look at him, beautiful as the day he was made.” Tony shrugs. “I was feeling nostalgic, amongst other things.” He says.

“You mean you didn’t want to train with one of your newer models.” Natasha points out and Tony almost wants to give her a gold star or make a ‘ding ding ding you’ve won!’ sort of sound but he refrains.

“All of the armors have the same basic design and layout. You should all know that by now. So using one of the older models isn’t really much of a change. In fact, most of the changes in the newer models are software changes rather than hardware.”

“You’re hiding your upgrades from us now.” Sam asks and Tony sighs.

“Actually I’m not. There are reasons why I brought this model along.” Tony tells him.

“What ‘reasons’? This ought to be good.” Clint snorts, crossing his arms and Tony just gives him a sharp grin as the armor opens up and he steps inside of it.

“Reasons Barton.” He repeats as the suit closes and comes online. “Now are we going to do this or are we just going to stand around basking in the brilliance of younger me’s engineering capabilities?”

“I bet you’d like that wouldn’t you Stark?” Clint snaps and Tony shrugs.

“Whatever floats your boat.” Tony replies. “But I’ve got a timer, and it’s ticking down so if you want to do this, it’s going to have to be now.” He doesn’t even pretend to care about the ‘meaningful’ looks that they send each other as they all start preparing themselves for the absolute shit show that this training simulation is going to be.

+++

Tony smiles and takes off his sunglasses as he stands, reaching out and accepting Ross’s handshake.

“Mr. Stark, sorry to keep you waiting.” Everett says and Tony waves it off.

“No trouble Councilmember, I’m just grateful that you were able to squeeze me in today.” Tony replies, keeping his tone grateful and every bit the ex-CEO of Stark Industries. He follows Ross into his office and takes a seat before declining something to drink.

“So, what brings you by?” Ross asks and Tony reaches into his pocket and pulls out a flash drive, putting it down on the table.

“I know that the Council is having a hard time coming to an agreement with the ‘Avengers’ as it were.” Tony tells him and Ross gives him a rueful smile.

“Are you here to help with Rogers?”

“Oh good heavens no. I don’t envy you in the slightest.” Tony chuckles back at him. “No, this is something different.”

“What is it?”

“I know that the Avengers have become a household name, but as you well know there are other individuals out there who possess special abilities.” Tony tells him and he can see that catch Ross’s curiosity.

“Yes, we’re aware.”

“Well, I’ve reached out to some of these other individuals and we’ve come to a mutual agreement to engage with the Council on our own.” Tony looks at Ross. “I know that Rogers is holding up negotiations.”

“It has certainly been a…tug of war between both parties.” Ross admits. “The Council is concerned that it’s about to get worse with your…transfer request, to go from the team to a solo contract.”

“I like working hand in hand on things that I’m going to be signing and being held accountable to.” Tony tells him. “And I’m not the only one. On this flash drive is the beginning work out of a legal document that myself and several other individuals have agreed to the terms and are willing to step in to negotiate with the Council.”

“You want to negotiate alongside Rogers?”

“Councilmember let’s be frank. Rogers isn’t negotiating. He won’t accept anything less than a full surrender to his ‘authority’ and he’ll drag his feet for as long as possible to get it.” Tony motions to the flash drive. “Thankfully, Rogers and his team are only five individuals and despite what a lot of people have come to believe, they are not the end all of ‘super powered individuals’. I’ve got fifteen willing to move forward with negotiations on this agreement.”

“Fifteen?”

“Yes.” Tony gives him a smile. “I’ve been recruiting.” He sighs a little. “Look, I’m not looking to screw over Rogers or anything, but I’m also not interested in having him do that to the rest of the world. Right now, the Council only has Rogers and his team to negotiate with and none of his followers are going to go against a thing he says or agree to a compromise unless he gives the green light for it. _If_ the Council were to agree to start here, and continue forth with negotiations – in good faith – with the people that are willing to come off the sidelines, a balance of power could finally be figured out.”

“More members would only benefit the Avengers Initiative.” Ross says slowly, his hand reaching out and taking the flash drive.

“It would also allow for better negotiations. Right now, for better or worse, there is no one to challenge Rogers’ position as leader and spokesperson of the Avengers. If we brought in more members, new positions could be opened up and that kind of absolute, totalitarian power could be done away with.”

“You want to try to take the position of leader away from Rogers?” Ross clarifies and Tony shrugs.

“If a system isn’t working, then a solution must be made. Right now, with how the Avengers are set up according to its rather flimsy and short charter – a simple vote determines the leader and the direction that the Avengers are to follow. I say let’s use that to our advantage before Rogers creates a second ‘Civil War’.”

“And you have fifteen people on the sidelines ready to step in?”

“I have fifteen who have agreed to step up right now.” Tony tells him. “I have _more_ who want to see a final product before they’re willing to sign on.” Tony grins. “Like I said, I’ve been recruiting.” Ross takes a second, glancing down at the flash drive.

“I’ll take this to the Council immediately. We’ll see what can be done.”

“Thank you.”

“I have to say, I’m looking forward to working with you Mr. Stark.” Ross says, and his statement sounds honest.

“Me too Councilmember, me too.” Tony replies back.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know - it's really soon to be updating, but all my lovely tumblr people are evil enablers. :-P  
> This is a shoutout to munichmom, loverofloki1974, tooldfrthis, doctormead, airmidcelt and nemisis729! Thank you for letting me know that it is perfectly cool to be updating so soon! 
> 
> Also note: I was going to leave it but I'm gonna say it - Do not take Steve's interpretation of what's happening for face value. You'll hopefully understand what I mean, just because that's what 'he' thinks is happening doesn't necessarily mean that's what 'is' happening.

_“Why? Why do you want me here? You do realize the mixed signals you’re sending yes?”_ Tony’s voice echoes in Steve’s mind as he does another rep with the weights. _“Why do you want me here so badly?”_ Steve had answered that question, but somehow it wasn’t enough and he wasn’t sure how to word it in such a way that the other man would recognize his sincerity about it. Sure, there were things that they’d done wrong, dropped the ball in how they handled some situations with Tony – Steve could admit to that, but he still just couldn’t see how that justified Tony’s rage or how it allowed him to ignore _years_ of friendship and comradery. _“At least I did you the service of telling you, instead of hiding behind false friendships until your back was turned.”_ Is that what he truly thought? How had he gotten it all so mixed up?

“Steve.” Natasha’s voice cuts through his internal thoughts and he looks to see the red haired spy approach in fast, clipped steps. “We’ve got a problem.” She says. “A _serious_ problem.” Steve quickly puts down the weights and sits up to look at her.

“What? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Tony.” She says with so much frustration and heaviness in her voice and Steve bites back the tired ‘of course it is’ that wants to come out.

“What’s he done now?”

“A lot.” Natasha tells him. “A lot Steve.”

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

“According to my source in the Accords-” Steve tries to not crinkle his nose at the reminder of this ‘source’ of Natasha’s. This poor sap dangling from the Widow’s thread in Ross’s office. “Tony had a private meeting with Ross.”

“Do we know what they talked about?”

“Yes.” Natasha says with a nod. She pulls out a flash drive. “Tony gave a copy of this to the Council with an agreement to negotiate with them personally on the Accords _in your place._ ” Steve has to unclench his fist as he reaches out for it.

“What’s on it?”

“Legal documents. Lawyer speak.” Natasha tells him. “Stuff that the Council is going to just eat up.”

“Is it any good?” Steve asks, looking at it and Natasha shrugs.

“Does it matter?” She asks and he figures she has a point. “Tony made it, and as he showed earlier he’s not exactly in the right frame of mind to be making legislation that’s going to try and govern us all.”

“Even if he has made this, the Avengers Initiative doesn’t allow him to negotiate on our behalf. Only I can do that.” Steve points out and she gets a heavy look. “What?”

“Steve…” Natasha says and for a moment it looks like she doesn’t want to say the next things that come out of her mouth. “Steve, Tony knows that. He’s _working around_ that. It’s what he does best. Don’t you get it? He’s declared war on us – _again_.”

“How’s he working around it?” Steve asks, trying to ignore the pit in his stomach at her words.

“Several ways from what I hear. He’s bringing back up that in theory – he _owns_ the Avengers Initiative.”

“What?”

“He does Steve. When SHIELD fell, Tony and Fury worked out a deal. The Avengers are a Stark property and as such he’s claiming that he has _rights_ when it comes to the future of the Initiative.”

“But that’s not how it works.” Steve reminds her. “I’m the leader and with how the whole thing lays out the buck stops and starts with me.”

“…Yeah, but Steve that’s not what he’s attacking right now.” Natasha warns him. “My source says that he’s negotiated the right to offer memberships to individuals and have them be recognized as Avengers. Since he owns the institution, they’ve acknowledged his claim.”

“What good is bringing in new faces going to do for him if he’s trying to bring down the Avengers?”

“Steve – he’s not trying to bring down the Avengers, he’s trying to bring down _us_.” Natasha says. “If he adds new members then he can push for a vote to replace you as leader. If there are more voices on his side then-”

“Then he’d manage.” Steve says, horror winding through his tone. “He could get them to side with him.”

“And he’d be the leader.” Natasha says with a nod. “Steve…this is bad.”

“Can we challenge him?” Steve asks, his mind already thinking of outs to this problem. “Challenge his authority to add new members without approval?”

“Steve, he’s not going to just show his hand like that. I have no doubts that he’s going to _allow_ us to vote on them.” She says with a shake of her head. “And when he does, he’ll have us.”

“How?”

“Because if we can’t prove why we’re turning away every new recruit – without sounding like some paranoid ‘Tony Stark is out to get us’ conspiracy group – he could turn the public against us.” She explains. “If we say ‘no’ and we don’t have a legitimate reason, he could take this out into the court of the public sphere. He could make it seem like these bright eyed, bushy tailed people just want to step up and help and then you are only rejecting them because you want to hold onto your unchallenged authority. We’d be finished within the day.” She says with a shake of her head. “He’s outmaneuvering us, Steve. And he’s going to win.”

“Not yet he hasn’t.” Steve says firmly. “We’ve still got time.”

“Time for what Steve? How are we supposed to get in front of this?”

“Well how do we know that each person he brings on isn’t able to be rationalized with? If we can make them see-”

“Steve, Tony is playing for keeps. Do you honestly think he’d make such a rookie mistake? He’ll find the people who spit on the very mention of your name and he’ll greet them with a smile.”

“There has to be something we can do Nat.” Steve argues. “If he’s recruiting, can’t we?”

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin. That’s just it Steve, this isn’t something _new_ that Tony’s been doing. This needed time. This is something he’s been messing with for longer than a month.’

“You think he’s been planning to take us out for longer than when we put him on standby?” She nods at his question. “…Well what if we revealed that Tony’s _on_ standby? What if we show that he’s not currently in the right mindset to be leading the Avengers or anything like that?”

“Well there’s the problem again. _We_ didn’t put him on standby. He filled out the paperwork after that night and sent it in. As far as it looks, he’s stepped back because of a lack of trust he has in _us_. Not the other way around.” She sighs. “It would play out in his favor if it got out. He could shed a little tear about Rhodes and his parents and Siberia – he has the footage Steve, isn’t it strange to you that he hasn’t released it? He’s holding onto it. He’ll _destroy_ you if he lets it out. It’s his trump card. He only has to play the role of traumatized victim and he’s good at playing roles Steve. He’ll end us. No one will want to be shown siding with us or it will be like siding with abusers. He may be Tony Stark and people might love to hate him, but there’s only so much that politicians or people will outwardly speak out in favor of when accusations like this get thrown around. Especially so soon after the pardons. There are a lot of people still angry about that and he’ll stoke the fires and sit back to watch us burn.”

Steve stares at the flash drive in his hands, a feeling of helplessness in the face of Tony’s plot rushing through him.

“No.” Steve says after a moment. “No I’m not going to just give up and roll over.” Steve glances at Natasha. “There’s still a chance.”

“A chance for what Steve?”

“To bring him around. Tony just wants to be acknowledged. He just wants us to show that we’re sorry for what he feels we did to him.” Steve tells her. “What if we gave that to him?”

“Play along with his ego?” Natasha asks with an arched eyebrow.

“Do you think it could work?”

“I don’t know. I guess it depends on how far you’re willing to let him walk over you.”

“I’m willing to do whatever is necessary to make sure that the Avengers don’t get taken out from the inside by someone who isn’t thinking things through clearly.” Steve tells her. “And for all we know, this isn’t fully his plan.”

“What do you mean?”

“He won’t tell us about Strange. He’s met these ‘new people’, how do we know that Strange didn’t introduce them? You saw him use his magic on Tony, when have you _ever_ seen Tony let Wanda use hers on him? He’s fundamentally against magic, why would he allow it now?” Steve points out and Natasha nods slowly, seeing the problem.

“It’s certainly a concern.”

“I think it’s more than a concern. Tony said he’d leave us and side with him, I think something else is going on. Maybe Strange has something on him or has done something to him.”

“We don’t know anything about what Strange can do, it’s a possibility.” Natasha agrees. “I think…I think we need to call a meeting. The others need to know what’s going on.”

“Yeah.” Steve agrees. “And then I need to go talk to Tony.”

“Do you think he’ll listen?” Natasha asks and Steve’s shoulders go back.

“I won’t give him a choice.”

+++

In the end, it takes all of Natasha’s and Clint’s skills to track down where Tony’s going to be. A charity gala, the rich and influential all coming together to throw money at ‘little causes’ that might tug their heartstrings and give them giant tax cuts. Natasha manages to get him an invitation from the ‘Rand’ side of the event, since she’s certain that Tony’s scouring the invitations that his side is giving out during this joint charity venture.

Steve tugs a little at his collar as he makes his way through the crowds, looking for the billionaire. He finds him like a moth finds flame within a few minutes. It’s amazing to Steve how in a sea of rich people so obsessed with physical perfection and beauty that Tony just stands out from them like a glowing beacon. There’s a smile on his face as he leans casually against the open bar and he’s talking with the man that Steve now recognizes as Danny Rand. There’s a beautiful black haired woman at Tony’s side who looks strangely bored to be at an event like this and Steve wonders what favors or gifts Tony is going to shower his arm candy with tonight.

…he’s heard _stories_.

“Mr. Rogers.” Tony’s voice says and he doesn’t sound pleased when Steve approaches them. “I know for a fact that you were not on the guest list.”

“I managed to come by an invitation.” Steve says cryptically and Tony’s look is unimpressed.

“Translation: Natasha tricked some poor sap out of his plus one.” He says and Steve doesn’t say anything to that.

“Can we talk?” Steve asks and Tony shakes his head.

“No.”

“Tony.”

“Mr. Rogers.” Tony fires back easily. “I’m quite busy at the moment, if you can’t tell.”

“You’re not doing anything but drinking.” Steve tells him and he can’t help but cross his arms. Tony gives him a slow, almost mockingly sensual smirk as he brings the tumbler up to his lips and takes a deep drink and it makes Steve’s tongue stick to the roof of his suddenly dry throat.

“It’s a calling I’m afraid.” Tony says a moment later. “One I must adhere to.”

“Tony, I know about your meeting with Ross.” Steve says, figuring that he can show some of the cards that he knows Tony is holding close to his chest and Tony takes another sip with a nod.

“I figured you would. That assistant of Ross’s…Jack Talbot I think his name is. It seems he’s rather infatuated with a certain red haired spy.”

“How would you know that?” Steve accuses and Tony gives him a bored look.

“Rogers, I _make_ it my business to know who is in bed with whom when I make any moves. Trust me, it wouldn’t be the first time a little pillow talk has brought down empires and I’m not looking to have that happen to me. So yes, I knew about your ‘in’ inside Ross’s office.” Steve can’t help but look at Tony and feel this strange wall between them.

“Tony… _please_.” Steve impores and Tony just looks at him.

“I’m sorry Rogers, but I’m indisposed at the moment. If you want to talk to me outside of Avengers meetings then schedule something with FRIDAY.” Tony says and there isn’t an ounce of care or an intention to budge in his voice.

“Well this got awkward.” The arm candy says, a smirk on her dark red painted lips and Tony spares her a glance as she slides off her stool. “Captain, may I have this dance?” She holds out her hand and there’s something that flickers on Tony’s face.

“I’m not sure your date will appreciate that.” Steve tells her and she just gets a grin.

“Oh don’t worry, he knows who I’m going home with.” She purrs at him before she takes his hand and tugs him out on the dance floor. Steve lets her practically lead the dance and he notices how Tony’s eyes keep flickering over to them before he’ll say something to Rand and then have his attention drawn back to them.

The question that Steve can’t answer is – who is he paying attention to? Steve or Arm Candy?

“He is rather hard to take your eyes off of.” Arm Candy says with a grin and she presses in closer. “I see you’re having a hard time of it too.”

“I just really wanted to talk to him.” Steve deflects and she smirks.

“Oh I’m sure.” She says. “The Man of Iron, the man who can withstand any storm and get you whatever you desire. It’s too bad that you’ve lost his favor.”

“If you’re just using him for-”

“Oh please don’t get righteous. It’s boring and poor form all things considering.” She cuts him off and there’s something about her sentence that makes him tense. “Did you know, when I first met him I wrote him off? He wrote himself off as well. He never included himself in your little group, the outlier as it were.” Steve stares at her. “And now to see the true power he holds and to see you all scrambling after him and to know that you have no _idea_.” She chuckles. “Enjoy your time at the top dear Captain. You should have been more careful when there were sharks in the water.”

“Who are you?” Steve asks and she leans forward to whisper in his ear.

“Do say hello to my brother for me when you see him.” She says but it’s not the voice of a woman – it’s a voice that Steve’s never forgotten.

“Loki.” Steve lets out horrified and she just grins.

“I wouldn’t recommend creating a scene here Captain. I’d hate for things to…get out of hand as it were.” She threatens before she walks off the dance floor and back to Tony. Steve would follow her but there are three security guards standing there now, trying to escort him out and the threat rings in his ears. There are too many innocent civilians here and Loki is too close to Tony outside of the suit for Steve to make any moves. He watches Loki approach Tony who gives her a kind of ‘what’s up with you?’ look before she tilts his head towards her ignoring his confused look and lays a dirty looking kiss on him before she rests her chin on his shoulder and just sends the most mocking glance in Steve’s direction.

Steve feels like his legs are jelly when he gets pushed outside.

They were wrong. It’s not Strange doing the influencing, trying to bring down the Avengers. It’s Loki.

Loki’s back.

Loki’s back and he has _Tony_.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's all coming to a head now. The confrontation is inevitable. :-)

“Wait, so you mean an _actual_ dragon? Like full on Lord of the Rings Smaug levels of dragon?” Tony asks, a smile tugging at his lips in disbelief. “Seriously?”

“Why is that so hard to believe?” Danny asks with a small amount of amused frustration, like the frustration of someone who has had this conversation one too many times without a satisfactory outcome. “Especially with your own experience?” Danny motions to Tony’s chest area and Tony shrugs as he leans over and grabs his drink.

“Fair.” He replies, taking a sip. “But a dragon? That just seems fantastical. How did that work exactly? How big was it? Are we talking a Komodo Dragon level of dragon or Godzilla levels of dragon?” Danny opens his mouth to explain before the two of them stop at the sudden arrival of an unwanted third party.

Inwardly, Tony’s not surprised in the slightest that Rogers found him here. He’s a little annoyed, and he’s going to have a word with security, but he’s not surprised.

“Mr. Rogers.” Tony offers up a neutral greeting. “I know for a fact that you were not on the guest list.”

“I managed to come by an invitation.” Steve says, adjusting his bowtie a little and Tony can read between the lines.

“Translation: Natasha tricked some poor sap out of his plus one.” He replies and he can tell that he’s hit the nail on the head by Steve’s suddenly shifty look.

“Can we talk?” Steve asks and Tony considers his options. He could play along and turn an already boring event even _more_ boring, or he could tell Rogers to stick it where the sun don’t shine and have him kicked out.

Option two is clearly the better choice.

“No.” Tony tells him and Steve looks temporarily taken aback, like he didn’t actually expect Tony to flat out say no to his face if he were standing right in front of him.

“Tony.”

“Mr. Rogers.” Tony says, since apparently they’re saying each other’s names pointlessly. “I’m quite busy at the moment, if you can’t tell.”

“You’re not doing anything but drinking.” Steve argues, crossing his arms and Tony just smirks at him as he takes a deliberate drink. For a moment, there’s something unreadable on Steve’s face but it quickly goes away.

“It’s a calling I’m afraid.” Tony says. “One I must adhere to.”

“Tony, I know about your meeting with Ross.” Steve says and Tony almost wants to say ‘And?’, but it’s clear that Steve seems to think that he should get some sort of recognition or gold star for his efforts.

“I figured you would.” Tony tells him. “That assistant of Ross’s…Jack Talbot I think his name is. It seems he’s rather infatuated with a certain red haired spy.” There’s a look of absolute surprise and confusion on Steve’s face for a moment before it falls away to something a lot more familiar – distrust.

“How would you know that?” He demands and Tony can already see the cogs trying to turn. He doesn’t doubt that Rogers will come to the incorrect conclusion that he’s been spying on them or some other such nonsense.

“Rogers, I _make_ it my business to know who is in bed with whom when I make any moves. Trust me, it wouldn’t be the first time a little pillow talk has brought down empires and I’m not looking to have it happen to me. So yes, I knew about your ‘in’ inside Ross’s office.” Tony tells him and he watches as Steve just stares at him with this sort of forlorn, kicked puppy look.

“Tony… _please_.” He asks and once upon a time Tony would have dropped everything to fix whatever was wrong that had Steve looking and sounding like that.

These days though, he’s realized it isn’t his problem.

“I’m sorry Rogers, but I’m indisposed at the moment. If you want to talk to me outside of Avengers meetings then schedule something with FRIDAY.” Tony doesn’t bother to mention that FRIDAY will ignore and refuse any and all meetings, but that’s neither here nor there.

“Well this got awkward.” Loki says, inserting himself into the conversation and Tony will admit that for a brief moment he forgot the Asgardian’s mulish presence at the event. Tony sends Loki a glance that says ‘behave’ but Loki is completely ignoring him, obviously entertained by the mouse in front of it like a snake seeing its dinner. “Captain, may I have this dance?” Loki asks and Tony barely refrains from saying how bad of an idea that is.

Barely.

“I’m not sure your date will appreciate that.” Steve replies and Tony almost wants to give him a confused look. Date? A beautiful woman – Tony doesn’t doubt that Loki took _time_ to create this form because he was a vain, peacocking diva like that – stands next to Tony at a bar and they’re obviously together? Are Danny and he on a date as well by that definition? Tony’s barely spared Loki a second glance for at least the last twenty minutes, is that how Steve thinks Tony treats the dates he brings to these events?

“Oh don’t worry, he knows who I’m going home with.” Loki says and Tony refrains from rolling his eyes as Loki drags Steve away. This…this is going to go badly wasn’t it?

“Should we intervene?” Danny asks and Tony sighs, looking at him real quick to share an exasperated look with the other billionaire before he looks back at Steve and Loki.

“No, too late now.”

“Do you think he’ll cause a scene?”

“I don’t know.” Tony admits. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he does though.”

“He knows he’s supposed to be keeping a low profile?” Danny says and Tony shrugs.

“I know that, you know that, in theory he knows that – but it’s Loki.” He replies and Danny lets out a soft sigh in understanding.

“Do we need to do damage control?” Danny asks and Tony shakes his head.

“Nah. Thor’s talking to the Council right now. Getting Loki’s pardoned signed and all that jazz. I say let the chips fall where they may and we’ll deal with the cleanup if we absolutely have to later.” Tony watches as Loki leans up and whispers something in Steve’s ear and he knows that the jig is up by the absolutely horrified look on Steve’s face a second later. “FRIDAY, please get security to escort Rogers out before he causes a scene.”

**_‘On it Boss.’_ **

Loki leaves Steve on the floor with a final smirk before returning over to them and Tony gives him a look that he hopes conveys the ‘what the hell was that?’ he’s currently thinking and Loki surprises him by standing off to his side and reaching out and guiding his head towards him before he kisses him.

Tony almost sighs. He can read between the lines of this as well. The angle, the pageantry, all of it. This is for Steve’s benefit and Steve’s alone.

 _Troll._ He can’t help but think as Loki pulls away and rests his head on his shoulder, still mocking Steve as Steve’s lead out.

“Was that absolutely necessary?” Tony asks the minute Steve is out of sight and Loki chuckles, pulling away and taking a seat.

“Necessary? No. Fun? Yes.” Loki purrs at him and Tony just shares an exasperated look with Danny as he takes another drink.

That’s going to be a pain in his ass, he has no doubts.

+++

Steve takes the Compound stairs two or three at a time as he bounds up them and rushes into the main common area where the others are waiting for him to return. The absolute panic that’s been eating away at him since he left the event must be showing on his face when he finally turns the corner because the team looks up at him and their smiles immediately fall off their faces and concerned confusion replaces them.

“Steve? Steve what’s wrong?” Natasha asks.

“We have a problem.” Steve replies. “Tony’s in danger.”

“What?” Sam asks.

“We have to go get him, we have to-”

“Steve!” Clint snaps. “Calm down and explain. What’s going on? What’s wrong with Stark?”

“I went to the event tonight to talk to him.” Steve starts to explain.

“Did you manage?” Nat asks and Steve shakes his head.

“Not really. He didn’t want to talk to me.” Steve says and the others get a look like they’re not surprised. Wanda’s looks a little more irritated then the rest and she tugs at the power suppressing bands on her wrists. “He was there with someone else though.”

“Who?”

“Loki.” Steve says and the name makes silence fall over the room.

“Loki’s back? And he’s with _Stark?_ ” Clint asks and his voice is deadly calm.

“He was in the form of a woman.” Steve explains. “Tony’s date, and he revealed himself to me before I was kicked out.”

“Loki’s bad news.” Sam says, looking between everyone worriedly. “And Stark’s been acting weird, maybe this is why?”

“Loki’s pulling from his old bag of tricks again?” Clint snarls. “And apparently he’s keeping to his common habit of taking an Avenger to do his dirty work. Damn it, Stark should have fucking stayed here. We should have known something was up.”

“What are we supposed to do about it?” Nat asks and Steve feels that sort of helpless energy running through him.

“We have to go save him.” He tells them. “Who knows what Loki’s been doing to him? You should have seen it…” Steve trails off and he doesn’t know how to put his concern into words.

That kiss.

What if Loki’s influencing Tony and Tony doesn’t know and Loki’s just playing with him? Or worse, what if Tony’s being controlled to a point like Clint was and Loki’s doing… _things like that_ to him?

“We can’t take on Loki Steve.” Natasha warns him. “We barely managed before and we had Bruce and Thor, and with Strange sealing Wanda’s powers? We don’t have a lot of hope.”

“What about Vision?” Wanda asks softly. “Vision could help.”

“Vision’s off ‘finding himself’ somewhere. Only Tony knows where he is.” Sam points out.

“What if Vision isn’t though?” Clint points out. “We’ve been taking Stark at his word for face value, but what if that’s just the cover story? What if Loki has Vision locked away somewhere and he’s playing around with his Stark doll to cover it up and is laughing at us while he does it?” Steve can’t help the concern winding through him.

“He’s right.” Nat agrees. “Loki could have Vision trapped somewhere and we would be none the wiser.”

“What are we supposed to do then?” Sam asks and Steve runs a hand through his hair and tugs at it a little in frustration.

“I don’t know, but we have to do _something_. We can’t just leave Tony with _Loki_. If you guys could have seen-” Steve cuts off but that catches their attention.

“Seen what Steve?” Nat asks and Steve clenches his fists.

“Loki was all over him…He _kissed_ him just to show he could and that I could do nothing about it.” Steve answers and the looks of horror write themselves on most of the teams’ faces.

“Loki wouldn’t dare.” Clint growls and Natasha looks uncomfortable.

“We don’t actually know that. He might. What better way to get past someone’s defenses then to get into bed with them?” She says, arching an eyebrow as if to say ‘I mean, look what I do’.

“That son of a bitch.” Clint snarls as he finally stands up and starts pacing in aggravated motions around the room. “We have to go get him.”

“Who?” Sam asks.

“Stark! We know where he is. He’s at the manor. We’ll go get him, drag him back here where he’ll be safe and we’ll contact the Council. Stark’s the only one who knows where Banner is, even if Loki’s done something to Vision we can get the Hulk here asap to kick his fucking ass.”

“Bruce would be here in a heartbeat if he heard that Tony was in danger.” Natasha says with a nod. “It’s our best chance.”

“How are we going to break into the Manor?” Sam asks. “I mean…that’s Stark’s _home_. There has to be a few nasty surprises between the front door and him.”

“I still have one more ARC EMP bomb.” Natasha says slowly. “I could set it off, it’ll take out Tony’s systems for about ten minutes.” She looks at them. “We could get in, get him out and hopefully have him back here before Loki realizes what we’ve done.”

“It’s the only option we have.” Steve agrees. “Alright, everyone suit up.”

“What about me?” Wanda asks and Steve nods.

“Strange said self-defense and mission’s right? If Loki attacks us your powers should work.” Steve says with a small amount of hope in his voice. Wanda’s powers still worked during training like Strange said they would, now Steve could only pray that the man hasn’t lied about what else his little chains on Wanda are doing. “We leave in seven. Avengers, assemble.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, my inability to hold onto chapters once they're typed up strikes again.

“What do you think of that option?” Tony asks, motioning towards the screens. “It won’t do much for stopping Thanos’s forces but it’ll certainly give us a heads up if they decide to come by space and not a teleportation device.” Loki glances over it with a tilt of his head as Tony glances at Wong. “Do you think it would be possible?”

“Yes.” Wong says with a slow nod. “If enough time is given, we can create the portals to get your machines out far enough.”

“At least it’s an early warning system.” Tony replies to that, looking back at the schematics. “What do you think Loki?”

“I think it’s a half measure.” The Asgardian says. “Why waste time only making an ‘early warning system’ when it can be both that and a first line of defense. Why allow Thanos’s army to approach unhindered?”

“Because we can’t guarantee that it _is_ Thanos approaching and I don’t want there to be even the slightest chance for a misfire.” Tony replies. “There are a lot of other civilizations out there and I don’t want to accidentally start a war with one of them because we shot down someone just passing by. I’d rather get a system set up that gives us a silent heads up without the person or people approaching knowing that we already know they’re there.” Tony motions with his hand and pulls up another screen. “Besides, that’s what the A.S. is for.”

“How is that coming along?” Danny asks, looking at the blueprints and Tony shrugs.

“It’s a little harder to sell since the original Ultron program was designed to be the ARC Shield and a lot of people have a bad taste in their mouth since it was able to be hacked and used against us.” Tony replies. “But T’Challa has offered up the schematics on the shield protecting Wakanda and Shuri and I think that if we put our brains together that we’ll be able to find a way to combine the Vibranium energy shield and the ARC energy shield together to make something stronger. Not to mention the information on Asgard’s shield. It won’t have any firepower behind it, but it’ll certainly give some invaders pause.” Tony glances over at Loki. “Odin’s still on board with us getting that data yes?”

“The Allfather has not changed his mind, although I do not doubt that he will expect reciprocity if the defense system you are creating is able to improve upon Asgard’s defenses.”

“He’ll have it.” Tony says. “Earth and Asgard are allies right now. Any non-weapons are able to be shared at our leisure and I’ve got no issues handing that information over to Golden-Eyes Gate Watcher when the time comes. I want Asgard safe just as much as I want Earth safe.” Tony glances over at Reed. “What about you, how are the plans coming for the space station?”

“Ben and Sue are discussing it right now with Ross.” Reed replies. “As you can imagine putting an Avengers base on the moon comes with its own challenges.”

“I have every faith in Sue’s ingenuity.” Tony tells him with a grin. “And Ben’s, because Ben’s a manipulative little shit when he wants to be. He’s got that whole ‘big soft teddy bear’ thing working for him and then he gets you.”

“Well here’s to hoping that they see the benefits in having a base up there. Has Vision managed to get the final permits on the Avengers Compound in London?” Reed asks and Tony nods.

“For the most part, we’re still trying to find an adequate spot to put it, but we’ve gotten the green light from the government and the Council to build it.” Tony says.

 ** _‘Boss?’_** FRIDAY speaks up and Tony glances up.

“Yeah?”

**_‘Mr. Rogers and his team are approaching the manor.’_ **

“They’re coming for a visit?”

 ** _‘Considering that they are not attempting to use the front door, I would guess not.’_** FRIDAY replies and Tony sends an ‘I blame you’ look at Loki who just gets a shit eating grin and shrugs.

“Are they in their gear?”

 ** _‘Yes, and scans indicate that Romanov has an ARC EMP device on her person.’_** FRIDAY says and Tony pauses before he sighs.

“Does she now?”

“An ARC EMP?” Danny asks, looking at Tony who nods.

“Yeah, I was stupid in my youth. They used to tell me ‘How can we protect ourselves from you if you go crazy’ and in my desperation to make them feel safe I made them an EMP that resonated on the same frequency as the armor and the bots did.” Tony tells him.

“Is FRIDAY in danger?” Reed asks, standing up straighter and Tony shakes his head.

“No, I’ve changed up a lot of the hardware since the fallout. They no longer have the same frequency, in fact they no longer just have _one_ frequency. It’s a lot harder to take them out of the game these days.” Tony says before he looks up. “Um, thanks FRI. I guess tap into their com lines and let them know that you’ll just let them in. I’ll go handle this.” He glances at the various people around the table. “I’ll be right back.” He says before he turns and walks out. He sighs when he hears the footsteps that follow him. “I can handle them alone you know, and somehow I doubt your presence is going to help anything.”

“I promised Stephen that I would keep a close eye on you while he was away.” Loki replies as he falls into line with him. “I don’t break my promises.” Tony sighs and shakes his head.

“I swear, between the two of you, this whole protective bull is exhausting.”

“Come now Anthony. I seriously doubt that you’re concerned with our ‘protective bull’ when you’re between the two of us.” Loki tells him with a grin and Tony snorts and rolls his eyes.

“Oh god, I walked right into that one.”

“Yes you did.”

“I still think it’s a bad idea. They’re undoubtedly here to cause hell because of whatever you said to Rogers at the gala. Not to mention the little dick measuring contest you two had.”

“He wants what’s already been claimed.” Loki replies and Tony scrunches up his nose.

“Ew. Don’t say shit like that. It’s creepy and disturbing and I already have enough nightmares.”

“You know that he wants to-”

“I know absolutely nothing about what he wants and I’m not listening.” Tony cuts him off quickly and Loki just smirks as they turn the final corner. He almost sighs when he sees them all standing in the foyer. “Rogers.” Tony greets and they look at him, before their eyes go to Loki who is standing directly behind him and they all tense up. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Tony, you need to come over here right now.” Steve says, holding out his hand. “We’re here to help you.”

“Help me?” Tony asks. “Help me how?”

“You’re being controlled by Loki.” Clint tells him and Tony’s a little impressed with how friendly Clint’s voice is, like he’s either speaking to a dumb child or an easily spooked horse. “We’re here to save you.”

“I blame you for this.” Tony reiterates, looking over his shoulder at Loki. “All of you stand down, I’m not being controlled by Loki.”

“Tony look-” Steve starts but Tony cuts him off.

“No Steve, how about you try to _listen_. I’m not being controlled by Loki. He’s returned to Earth with Thor at the behest of Odin to help us prepare for Thanos.” Tony pauses. “Oh, I forgot, you don’t know about Thanos. The guy whose army Loki led back during New York? He’s coming back and he’s kind of notorious for winning so we’re trying to prep.”

“Are you listening to yourself Tony? This guy is coming back and his right hand man is standing right next to you?” Sam says and Tony sighs, immediately reaching out and stopping Loki’s advance towards them at the insult they’ve just given him.

“Loki is not and was never Thanos’s right hand man. He was a victim of the Mind Stone same as you Barton.”

“Bullshit.” Clint snarls. “He’s lying to you Stark.”

“He has evidence. He was cleared by Asgardian courts.” Tony tells them. “And as such, he’s an interplanetary diplomat. Even if you wanted to you couldn’t touch him without starting shit with Asgard and Thor.” Tony shrugs. “And a few others by proxy, myself included but let’s just focus on Asgard and Thor for this argument.”

“He’s manipulating you.” Steve repeats and Tony takes a moment to realize that they’ve probably just _completely ignored_ everything he just said.

“Woah…wow. Okay, brick walls. Fun.” He sighs as he runs a hand through his hair. “Even if you thought that was true, why are you here?”

“We’re here to save you.” Steve tells him like it’s so obvious.

“I take it you’ve cleared this little ‘rescue’ with Ross and the Accords – and by that I mean I know you didn’t, and I don’t even have to check to see because Ross would have told you about the negotiations going on between Asgard and Earth when it came to Loki and Thor assisting the Avengers.”

“We’re not going to just leave you under his control while some politicians sit in a room and _talk about it_.” Steve says with a small level of disgust.

“…and yet that’s exactly what you should have done.” Tony tells him. “If only to cover your asses. Jesus Steve, how hard is it to pick up a damn phone and let someone know what’s going on? Oh wait, I forgot, that’s never been your strong suit.” Steve just stares him down, his jaw tightening. “Look, I guess I appreciate the thought. I’ll admit I can see how the whole thing might have looked and with how I know your little 'group think' thing works, so I’ll bet it all just spiraled from there.” Tony motions to himself. “But I’m fine. I’m not being controlled and I appreciate the concern and I guess your willingness to come immediately to ‘save me’. I’m not happy about it and I think it’s stupid so don’t misunderstand me, but it’s probably the kindest thing that the lot of you have ever done for me so I’ll overlook the _massive_ breach of protocol and security that you guys have just committed just this once.”

“Tony, I know you think that everything-” Steve starts again and Tony holds up a hand to cut him off.

“I’m not asking you to take me at just my word because let’s be honest, that’s an exercise in futility since you’ve never done it before.” Tony tells him. “Instead I’m going to say let’s adjourn to the living room and I’ll get Ross on the line and we’ll get this all handled like sane, rational adults.”

“Tony, how about you come with us instead.” Natasha says gently. “Prove to us you’re not being controlled and we’ll go back to the Compound and we’ll call Ross from there.” Tony sighs and looks at Loki before he looks back at them and he can see that all of their stances have grown tight again.

“Look, normally I would say that might be a reasonable request, but I was in the middle of a meeting before you showed up and I’d like to get back to it. So doing the call here would be best. Besides, you’re already here and I’m already here. Why wait?”

“A meeting?” Clint says with a healthy amount of disbelief. “A meeting at what,” He looks at his watch. “Eleven o’clock at night?”

“Heroes never sleep.” Tony says with a shrug. “Besides it was the only time that all of us had to work into our schedules for this week. Normally we meet during usual office hours.”

“He’s not going to let him leave Cap.” Clint says, ignoring Tony now and speaking directly to Steve.

“I know.” Steve replies like Tony and Loki can’t _hear_ him and he adjusts his grip on the stupid shield T’Challa gave him. (Tony actually thinks that Shuri made it and is pranking Rogers with those designs, but he hasn’t had a chance to ask yet.)

“Okay, before you do anything stupid let’s just take a second and-” Tony sees it all happen in slow motion almost as he’s speaking and he reacts on instinct. “Barton no!” He tries to say, stepping quickly as a shield between Loki and Barton who has just pulled out a gun and the gunshot is loud, and the pain that blossoms in his chest knocks his legs out from underneath him and he stumbles back into Loki’s arms as he falls down.

“Tony!” He hears everyone shouting as he glances down at the growing red spot on his shirt and he can feel deaths cold fingers pulling at him.

“…I blame you for this…” Tony mutters with a small amount of exasperation, giving Loki as much of a glare as he can manage and coughing up blood before his eyes close and his body goes limp.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't leave you guys hanging on that cliff for long!  
> Here's the next chapter for you all! Thanks for the AMAZING reviews! Please keep them coming!

The noise that tears itself out of Steve’s throat hurts as it comes out. Steve feels like his heart has just been ripped out of his chest as he sees Tony stumble back and the stain growing on his shirt. It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together during those fateful seconds. The shot was true, Hawkeye’s aim always is – even apparently when the wrong target steps into the trajectory of the bullet.

Loki catches Tony and lowers them both down to the ground, bracing the brunet as if he were something fragile and precious with a look of guilt on his face as Tony whispers some final refrain to the Asgardian and his eyes close.

Steve can’t see his chest move. He isn’t breathing anymore and the silence in the hallway is deafening. Steve doesn’t make the conscious choice to come over, to fall to his knees next to Tony’s body and the Asgardian holding him.

This isn’t what was supposed to happen. What was Tony thinking? What had Loki made him do?

Steve reaches out slowly to touch Tony’s face and his wrist gets grabbed in a vicelike grip that feels like it’s crushing his bones.

“ _Do. Not. Touch. Him._ ” Loki growls and the temperature in the air drops and the hand grabbing Steve’s wrist loses some of its pale skin tone and a bluish hue comes to it.

It’s like being held by ice. It’s not a sensation Steve appreciates.

“We didn’t want this.” Steve tells him, and he’s not sure if he’s saying it to the angry demi-god cradling Tony’s body or if he’s saying it to the spirit that’s left them behind. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Steve hisses in pain as the grip tightens and there’s the sound of the portal opening in the background.

Steve doesn’t need to turn around to hear the others go down, taken out by the Sorcerer Supreme as he takes in the scene. He comes over slowly, looking down at Tony’s body with an unreadable look on his face before his eyes flicker over to Loki.

“What happened?” He asks and Steve almost wants to yell at how calm the question is. Strange had said Tony was under his protection, why wasn’t he here? Why didn’t he protect him from Loki? What good was he in the end with Tony lying dead inches from him?

“The archer dies.” Loki says and Strange doesn’t argue with him. He doesn’t fight him or try to get him away from the body of his dead charge.

Were they always in cahoots? Was Tony just surrounded by enemies everywhere that he just couldn’t take off the blinders from his rage against the Civil War and see the truth of them?

“He won’t allow that.” Strange says and Loki glances up at him.

“Then I’ll be quick.” He growls and the grip holding Steve’s hand turns so cold that it _burns_ – and Steve cries out at it –

And then a hand reaches up and rests on Loki’s wrist, a gentle touch that draws both the Asgardian’s attention down and Steve’s. Tony’s eyes are open and he’s just looking at Loki. There seems to be some kind of silent communication between the two of them done only through that kind of soulful gaze shared and Loki releases Steve with a hard shove that sends Steve sprawling away from them.

“Tony?” Natasha asks and Tony lets out a soft sigh as Strange kneels down and checks him over.

“I’m fine.” Tony says to the two men. “I’m not that easy to kill, remember? A simple bullet sure as hell isn’t going to manage.” He sits up and glances at all of them. Steve’s the only one not held down by Strange’s magic and Tony sighs. “This is how this is going to go.” He says, and his voice is strangely calm and neutral. “You’re all going to go to the living room where you are going to wait, _patiently_ , until I come get you. FRIDAY will connect you to the Accords Council and you can do what you should have done prior to all of this.” Tony stands up, letting Strange and Loki assist him as he does. “I will come speak with you within the hour.”

“Tony…how?” Steve starts and Tony just levels a hard look on him that shuts him up immediately.

“Go to the living room. I will be by when I’ve cleaned up and settled my other guests concerns.” He glances up. “FRIDAY, please direct them to the proper room and get Ross or someone on the line. Also fill out a report about what has just happened here.” Tony looks at Barton who looks horrified as he stares at the man he just killed standing and talking to him. Tony just shakes his head with a sigh as he turns and walks away, flanked by both magic users and the golden chains release them.

 ** _‘You will follow my lead to the living room.’_** FRIDAY says and its voice is cold and threatening. **_‘Or there will be consequences.’_** Steve nods slowly, feeling disjointed by whatever has just happened.

“Okay…sure.” He says as he stumbles along after the others.

+++

“I’m sorry Anthony.” Loki says the minute they step into his room and he embraces him from behind. “I did not mean for my fun to cause you pain.”

“I told you to keep a low profile.” Tony tells him, frustration heavy in his voice. “This is why. I knew what they were capable of. I knew the limits to which they would go. You just had to kick the hornets’ nest.” Loki sighs and let’s go, and Tony turns around to look at him. “I’m not angry. I’m frustrated and annoyed, but not angry.” Tony tells him after a moment. “I do hold you responsible for _everything_ that’s going to happen now though. We could have transitioned everything smoothly, but now we’re going to have to do damage control. You _know_ how much I hate damage control.”

“I know.” Loki says.

“And now they know. The cat’s out of the bag. I didn’t want Maximoff to know, but now she does.”

“She won’t touch you.” Stephen says. “The seals on her won’t allow it.”

“We both know there are ways around that. If she figures them out-”

“She’d have to be a lot better trained than she is for that to happen.” Stephen assures him. “I’m not saying it’s not a threat in the future, but I don’t believe it’s one right now, and by the time any of that comes around you should be fully trained and able to stand your own against her.” Tony sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

“This is a cluster fuck.” Tony says as he strips off the damaged shirt. He holds it out and Stephen burns it instantly with a spell. “So, this is how this is going to go. I’m going to take a shower, you’re invited to join me if you want but then I’m going to deal with the Council and the Avengers and _neither of you_ are going to do anything to Barton.”

“He should-” Loki starts, looking furious and Tony just silences him with a look.

“I’m the one who got killed, my choice. I say leave it. He’s going to have enough problems come his way because of this bullshit anyways. I’m not covering up what happened here.” Tony tells them. “So, life-affirming shower first and then damage control. Sound good?” He gets two nods to his query. “Sounds good to me too. Chop chop, we’re on a time schedule.”

+++

“So you’re telling me that Tony was telling the truth?” Steve asks. “ _Loki_ is an Avenger?”

 _“No.”_ Ross says over the conference call. He looks like he’s been woken up and there’s a level of exhaustion running through him that Steve feels they put there and not the late hour. _“Thor has chosen to return to the Avengers, Loki has chosen to join Mr. Stark’s team.”_

“Tony’s team?” Natasha asks. “I thought that was still in deliberation?”

_“We signed off on it this afternoon. The Ultimates will house Loki to keep a separation between old faces that might have a hard time working together.”_

“The Ultimates? That’s what Tony’s team is called?” Sam asks and Ross nods. “Who is on it?”

_“Several recruits brought in by Mr. Stark.”_

“Are they a subsidiary of the Avengers?” Natasha asks. “Is Steve technically the leader of both teams now?”

_“After his behavior today, Mr. Rogers will be lucky if he’s even **on** the Avengers come morning, let alone leading them.” _

“His behavior today?” Sam cuts in. “We thought a team member was being mind controlled. We tried to save him.”

 _“You should have contacted us, as you agreed to do in the contracts that you signed when you received your pardons.”_ Ross says. _“As such, an emergency meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow to deal with the frankly ridiculous situation that has happened tonight. We are all fortunate that Mr. Stark is well.”_

“Clint shot him.” Wanda says softly. “How is he alive?”

 _“The Council is aware of the situation with Mr. Stark.”_ Ross says cryptically. _“And despite his…recovery, an attempt on his life was made.”_

“We were trying to stop Loki.” Clint snaps and Ross gives him an unimpressed look over the screen.

 _“And yet you managed to grievously wound a fellow teammate. That is not a successful argument for you to be trying to undertake.”_ Ross tells him. _“Not to mention that I’ve seen the footage, Mr. Stark informed you of Mr. Odinson’s status and you still chose to take the shot.”_

“It was Loki.” Clint replies with a growl.

 _“I highly recommend that you prepare a better defense than that for your hearing Mr. Barton.”_ Ross tells him and Steve cringes.

“It was an accident Mr. Ross.” Steve tells him. “We didn’t mean to hurt Tony, and isn’t Clint protected by Good Samaritan laws?”

_“Those laws require a ‘reasonable’ response to ‘assist’ someone who may be in harm’s way or in need of assistance. They do not cover violent responses and use of deadly force. Not to mention, those laws are for first responders and medical assistance providers. Not cowboys with itchy trigger fingers.”_

“An apt description, Councilmember.” Tony says as he steps into the room and everyone jumps to their feet. Steve notices how he’s changed his clothes and how his hair is wet but he’s a sight for sore eyes.

He’s alive.

Steve considers stepping forward to check the brunet over, but Strange steps in after him, standing at his side like a threat or a barrier between them. Steve staunchly ignores the realization he has that the magic users hair is wet as well.

 _“Mr. Stark, I am glad to see you well.”_ Ross says and Tony inclines to him.

“Thank you Councilmember. My apologies for waking you at such a late hour. I take it that the situation with Loki was explained?” Tony asks and Ross nods.

 _“The Council has also decided to take Mr. Barton into custody at this time for aggravated assault.”_ There are some sputters to Ross’s demand and Tony just nods.

“Of course Councilmember, it will be done. Thank you again for answering.” Tony tells him and Ross inclines his head to him before he ends the call and the screens fade away. Tony turns to Clint. “Don’t waste any of our times resisting. Doctor Strange has full authorization to use any method necessary-”

“Tony.” Steve cuts off Tony’s little tirade and the brunet looks at him. “How…how?”

“How what Steve?” Tony asks him and Steve does a little motion to Tony standing there.

“How are you not dead?” Steve gets out.

“Would you prefer I was?”

“What? No!” Steve says and Tony glances to his side and shares a look with Strange. It’s similar to the look that he shared earlier with Loki, full of some kind of silent conversation that no one else was privy to.

“There’s a fundamental flaw in your question Steve.” Tony says eventually, looking back at him.

“A flaw?”

“Yeah.”

“…what flaw?” He asks and Tony gives him a tiny, sharp grin.

“You can’t kill someone who's already dead.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! *rolls around in all the amazing comments* THANK YOU SO MUCH!  
> Here's the next chapter for you all!  
> All my love.

“You can’t kill someone who’s already dead.”

Steve stares for a moment at Tony after those words echo heavily in the air. The brunet is just standing there, casually like he hasn’t just made a statement that has made all the hairs on the back of Steve’s neck stand up straight.

“Already dead?” Steve asks slowly. “What does that mean?” Tony’s gaze lands on him and for a moment he looks like he thinks Steve is ridiculously dense before he hides it behind one of those masks he’s always constructing to hide from them.

“Why don’t we start with what you think it means?” Tony says, ever contrary and difficult even in times when he shouldn’t be. “I’m curious to what possible definitions you could attribute to my words.”

“…you’re…here.” Steve says slowly, motioning to Tony standing there. “You’re not dead, you’re here.”

“You have a very rigid understanding of the concept of death.” Tony tells him. “But in that way of thinking, I guess in my case you wouldn’t be _entirely_ wrong. I mean, I’m standing here. I’m interacting with you. I’m able to process stimuli and respond to it. I guess if that’s how you define ‘alive’ then I won’t fully argue with you. It’s painfully limited and almost naïve, but I won’t argue.”

“How would you define it?” Natasha asks and Tony glances at Strange for a brief moment, doing that secret eye contact thing again that makes Steve’s jaw hurt from clenching when he sees it, and Steve wishes with all his heart that the magic user would just leave. The team needs a moment to deal with this bombshell that Tony’s dropping on them and they need to be able to do it _alone_. Strange isn’t one of them after all, he shouldn’t be here during this.

“My own definition is fluid right now. I’m still learning, and I’m also learning that not everything can be easily defined.” Tony gets a small amused smirk like something he just said is funny in some way that he’s not letting them in on. “You would think I would know that, but you learn something new every day.”

“That’s not an answer.” Nat informs him and Tony shrugs.

“Not everything has one.” He replies to her. “Or at least not an easy, tie it up with a bow and call it done, sort of answer.” He waves it off after that. “But we’re not going to get into philosophical debates. I’m here, and that’s all that matters.”

“But you died?” Sam asks and Tony nods.

“Murdered actually, but yes.” He tells him and there’s almost a chipper tone to his voice that shouldn’t be there.

“Murdered?” Sam questions and something in Steve wishes he wouldn’t.

“Yeah, you know about Siberia. You know about what went down there. Why are you suddenly so surprised to find out that when someone with super strength beats somebody down with an unyielding weapon until they can’t move anymore and then up and leaves them in sub-zero temperatures with no way out, that they would die?” There are several shifty looks at his blunt question and Steve almost wants to be sick.

“You…” He starts to say and those dark eyes glance at him. “You died there?”

“Murdered Steve. Use the right word. I went down in Death’s book as ‘murdered’, trust me I would know.” Tony retorts.

“But…” Steve starts to say and Tony gets a look on his face that’s vaguely disgusted.

“Seriously? You’re surprised? How in the hell are you surprised? Them I get, they only got a second hand account from an unreliable source who undoubtedly tried to spin it in such a way that the actions you took seemed necessary or unavoidable.” Tony glances at the rest of them. “They weren’t by the way, not that I think you care.” He tells them before he looks back at Steve. “But you and me? We _know_ what happened there. How the hell are you _surprised_?”

“No…that’s not…” Steve stumbles over his words as he shakes his head.

“That’s not what Rogers?” He asks and his voice is cold. “That’s not possible? That’s strange, because I remember it happening. I remember you getting me down and beating down on me like it was an Olympic sport and you wanted the gold.” Tony tells him. “I also remember how you abandoned me in a broken suit with no way to get out, you know since the suit was kind of my mode of transportation? It must have been so nice to go crawl into the king’s warm plane – I wouldn’t know of course I can only guess since I was left behind and laid there suffocating on my own blood and freezing. Alone, in the dark, where _you left me._ ”

“No…I didn’t-” Steve takes a small step back as his own mind remembers Siberia. He remembers Tony’s angry (no…not angry – _hurt_ – Steve hadn’t wanted to see the truth back then, it was easier to see Tony’s rage then Tony’s pain) face as he attacked Bucky and Steve. He remembers the blood, the horrible metal crack of the armor splitting under the shield. He remembers the sluggish way that Tony moved, like rolling onto his side took up more energy than he had to spare…and he remembers being so _grateful_ that Tony wasn’t in a position to follow them as he carried Bucky out of there.

But he hadn’t meant for Tony to die. He was just trying to protect his friend, didn’t intention count for something?

“How are you standing here then?” Sam asks, stepping into the conversation after the awkward, heavy lull. “If you died there, how are you here? Heck, how are you here after Barton shot you?”

“I made a deal.” Tony says with a careless hand wave like it doesn’t matter. The one he always does when he doesn’t want to explain something important to them. “And as per the stipulations of said deal, here I am.”

“You made a deal so you can’t die?” Natasha accuses and Tony shakes his head.

“No, I made a deal. Not being able to get offed by a moron with a gun is just a bonus.” Tony tells her and there’s something almost angry that twists on Wanda’s face.

“So it’s a _bonus_ that you cannot die?” She grits out and Tony’s glance flickers over to her and he gets a small smirk on his face. The smallest tilt of his lips like he’s trying to hold it in and is failing.

“Sorry princess.” He says and although his voice sounds completely sincere in its apology, it’s obvious that he’s mocking her. “I know you’re all torn up about it.” Wanda’s fists clench at his words and Steve has no doubts that if Strange wasn’t binding her magic that there would be red leaking from them.

“Who did you make a deal with?” Natasha asks, trying to bring the conversation back around and Tony shakes his head.

“Nope.” He says. “You don’t get that information. That is not on the table for discussion.”

“We need to know Tony.” She says kindly and Tony snorts.

“The only thing you need to know is that I lived.” He replies. “Oh, and that you’re all morons.”

“We’re not-” Wanda starts to growl but Natasha cuts her off.

“Tony, making a deal for immortality is dangerous and stupid. Who knows what-” Nat tries and Tony just rolls his eyes with an exasperated huff as he glances at Strange again who returns his own amused look before Tony looks back at the spy.

“Who said anything about immortality? Because I know I didn’t.” He tells her and she crosses her arms.

“You got shot and you came back to life. How is that not immortality?” She challenges. “Are you always going to come back? Is there any way to kill you?”

“Why? Are you preparing to try?” Tony asks her and she gets an annoyed look. “Like I said to Rogers earlier, you have a very rigid and narrow view of things. I mean, I guess I’m not surprised – I’ve seen it in action for years.”

“Tony.” Steve says, cutting in and the brunet looks at him. “If you’ve made a deal with someone that could have consequences that could affect the team.” He tells him gently. “We need to know. What if-”

“Oh god please stop.” Tony says, holding up a hand. “Don’t start coming up with conspiracy theories. That’s what landed your asses in hot water to begin with and got me shot in my own home.” Tony pauses. “Actually, that’s par for the course. Since that’s what landed your asses in hot water _last time_ too and got me brutally murdered.” He glances at Strange. “Why does it keep playing out that they get to be stupid and I keep dying for it?”

“Tony, the team-” Steve starts again, trying to push off Tony’s words and Tony rolls his eyes.

“And let me stop you there. If anyone needed to know the specifics I would admit that a team member or leader should know something about what’s going on.” Tony shrugs. “Good thing several members of the Ultimates already know.” Tony says and Steve feels that sickening feeling down in his gut. That’s right, the Ultimates, Tony’s shiny _new_ team. The one he’s trying to leave them behind for.

“Both teams should know what’s going on.” Sam interjects. “We’re not supposed to be two separate groups that never talk to each other. Never share information.” Tony tilts his head at Sam’s words and then gets an almost understanding look with a slightly sweet smile.

“You know what? You’re absolutely right.” Tony tells him, possibly seeing the light. “There should be at least one person who knows a little bit about what’s up, should an incident occur or a mission cross the desk that would better suit the other team.” He says and Steve goes to offer himself up to Tony as the person that he can confide to. Steve will keep his secret, he’ll do anything to make Tony stop looking past him like he doesn’t exist. “Which is why Rhodey is staying with the Avengers. Open communication as it were.” Tony says and those words crush Steve as Tony turns and looks at Strange. “Now that I think about it, do you think they’ll tap Rhodey to lead the Avengers now?”

“If the Council decides to relieve Rogers from his duty, I see no reason why not.” Strange says, acting like he has any say or input to give on their team. “Or possibly Marvel.”

“Oh that’s right. I forgot that she was willing to sign onto the Avengers team as well.” Tony says, acting like the name means something to all of them. “That’d be a great choice too. Lots of good options, that’s always a nice place to be in.” Tony says and Steve wishes that the two of them wouldn’t talk like the rest of them aren’t in the room with them.

 ** _‘Boss?’_** FRIDAY comes over the intercom and Tony glances up.

“Yeah baby girl?”

**_‘Dr. Richards is expressing his need to leave soon and they would like to go over some things with you and Dr. Strange if he has a moment.’_ **

“Okay, let him know we’re on our way. We’ve just got to put Barton in a holding cell and then we’ll be on our way.” Tony says and Steve tenses. He wants to tell Tony that it was an accident and that Clint made a choice and that choice wasn’t against Tony, it just went wrong. And Tony’s still here now, which means there were no real consequences to Clint’s mistake. The Council didn’t understand Loki and the history with the Asgardian and they don’t want to. They’d just crucify Clint and that wouldn’t solve anything, it would just leave the Avengers weaker.

Steve knows that they’ve had this conversation before with Wanda, and Tony understood it once upon a time when he wasn’t so desperate to separate himself from them. Sometimes people make mistakes, and accidents happen and people they didn’t mean to get hurt get hurt. Tony should understand that, having personally created Ultron and unleashing it on the world.

“I can take Barton alone.” Strange tells him and Tony nods.

“Okay, good. Thanks. I’ll return to the others. Can you get them back to the Compound?” He motions to the rest of them and Strange nods.

“Consider it done.” He says and Steve’s jaw clenches when he sees the small smile that Tony gives the magic user and the light hand on his arm as he walks past him to go speak to whoever this Dr. Richards is.

He doesn’t even look back. Not once.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! We've finally gotten there!   
> So we get an explanation for Tony's deal in this chapter, some couple time and a Team Cap decision!   
> Thanks for the reviews and Enjoy!!!

Tony waits till he’s out of sight of the Rogue’s and Stephen before he pauses and leans against the wall, taking a breath. His chest still aches, a phantom pain to remind him of the dangerous game he’s playing.

As Mistress Death warned him when they first made this pact, mortals were never meant to dip themselves into the river Styx and return to the waking world. There would always be a _cost_. A price to be paid. The ledger couldn’t be wiped away without its own pound of flesh taken.

 ** _‘Boss, is everything alright?’_** FRIDAY asks softly and Tony nods.

“Yeah, just catching my breath. You know how it is.” Tony tells her. “How are the others doing? They’re not panicking are they?”

**_‘I told them that you would wish for them to remain where they were to prevent additional incidents when they heard the gunshot.’_ **

“Thank you FRI.” Tony says to her and he means every word of it. If Reed, Wong, and Danny had rushed into the area everything could have spiraled even further out of control. Luckily, Mistress didn’t have much to say to him when her skeletal fingers plucked him from the river and pushed him back into Life. He doesn’t doubt that if he’d been in Death’s realm any longer that he would have had some visitors go floating by, curtesy of Loki.

Tony takes a moment and steadies himself. The battle is just beginning and he can’t afford to be limping around. Thanos is still out there, with far too much power at his command and with a desire to upend the balance of reality by throwing all the realms into death to court an unwilling recipient. Mistress couldn’t do anything about him while he still _lived_ , but she could send emissaries in her place to correct that little issue.

Tony inwardly sighs as he stands up straighter and rolls his shoulders. He has a job to do and no time to be held up by self-appointed ‘heroes’ and their understanding of how the world should cater and bow to them.

With luck, this would finally be the straw that would make the Council realize that they should have listened to Tony in the first place and not held out their hand in panic to the rogue Avengers. To a point, Tony understands their rash actions, the public still had a modicum of…not respect but leniency, for the rogues and with the threat of Thanos looming over their heads they looked at Tony – the broken Avenger, Rhodey – a temporarily grounded War Machine, and Vision – who was no longer sure that he wished to _be_ an Avenger; and they panicked.

If they had just given Tony a few more months, he could have put their minds to rest, but now they had to do damage control.

Tony walks back to the meeting and every eye glances his way when he enters.

“Are you alright, my friend?” Danny asks immediately, and Tony spares him a fond smile.

“A headache, lingering soreness – you know how it is.” Tony tells him honestly and he sees Loki get an annoyed sort of energy to his body language at the reminder of the realities of a soul resettling in a body.

“We heard the gunshot.” Reed mentions with a worried look on his face. “We wanted to go check it out but FRIDAY asked us to remain here.”

“Yes, and thank you for that.” Tony replies. “It was better that way in the long run. Barton had an itchy trigger finger and the rest have been mollified at this time…well to a point.”

“What happened?” Reed asks and Loki huffs.

“They killed him.” He offers up, oh so helpfully. “ _Again_.”

“What?” Reed snaps and Wong and Danny look over at him as if trying to ascertain if he still needs help or if he’s fine.

“Its fine, I’m good now.” Tony tells them. “Can’t stay dead right now, remember?”

“That doesn’t mean that we should test that.” Danny says with a frown. “And they didn’t _know_ that yet did they?”

“No they didn’t.” Loki states.

“It’s alright. I’m here and Barton’s been taken into custody.” Tony says. “I doubt that the Council isn’t going to bring some kind of formal charges against him and the others to a lesser degree.” Tony watches as they all seem to deal with the news in their own ways, irritation being the foremost emotion that he can see before they seem to deflate.

“Were you able to speak with Mistress Death while you were over there?” Danny asks and Tony nods.

“Yeah, she didn’t have much to say. Thanos is still slaughtering people in her name and she’s pissed. She did say that Thanos hasn’t moved from the last time we talked. He’s still causing chaos and looking for the next stone. She warned me that she’s sure that we’re running out of time. He’ll be coming for the three stones we have here soon enough.” Tony tells them. “So we got to get on this now. He already has the Reality Stone and the Power Stone so we need to get in front of this as soon as possible.” Tony walks back up to the plans. “So what do you have for me?”

+++

There’s a cool hand that places itself on the back of his neck when the meeting ends and everyone leaves, and Tony relaxes into the familiar magic that winds through him and eases some of the aches.

“Thank you.” Tony says when Loki finishes and he turns to look at the Asgardian.

“Are you going to try to get some sleep?” Loki asks and Tony bites his lip as he glances back at the plans on the screen in front of him. “You haven’t slept in the last three days, and Stephen told me you were plagued by nightmares the night before that.”

“You two need to stop gossiping behind my back.” Tony tells him, and he tries to put a reprimand there but he’s not sure if he doesn’t have the energy for it or if he just truly doesn’t mind it. “And I have to-”

“Your body is still human. Fragile. It needs rest.” Loki tells him and Tony sighs.

“I know. It’s just hard sometimes.” Tony crosses his arms across his chest. “I can’t stop worrying about what comes next. Thanos isn’t just after my employer’s favor. He’s after my family. You, Stephen and Vision all have what he wants. When he comes – and he will, he’s going to come for you.”

“That’s nothing we didn’t already know.” Loki reminds him and Tony shakes his head.

“In theory, I know that. In reality? It fucking terrifies me.” Tony admits. “Sometimes, when I’m awake I can ignore it. This big fucking guillotine just hanging over all of our heads. I can distract myself with plans and decisions and choices…but when I try to sleep? It just hits me.”

“You’re not alone in this Tony.” Stephen’s voice says from the doorway and Tony glances over to see the Sorcerer leaning on the frame.

“I know, and honestly I think that’s the only reason why I haven’t completely lost my shit.” Tony tells them. He runs a hand through his hair. “Is Barton contained?”

“Yes.” Stephen says with a nod.

“How did Rogers and the others take it?”

“Not well.” Stephen admits. “But I think they were more shaken up about the method of travel then they were about Barton being locked up at the end.”

“What did you do?” Tony asks, giving Stephen a sideways glance. “You didn’t do anything to them right?”

“Of course not.” Stephen says with a completely neutral look and Tony doesn’t believe it in the slightest.

“Oh god, what did you do?”

“Absolutely nothing.” Stephen assures him. “I only took them to the Compound and dropped Barton off in the cells.” Stephen pauses for a second. “I will admit, looking back that _maybe_ taking them through the Dark Dimension to get there was unkind, but teleportation through realms is the fastest way to travel.” Loki gets a small smirk on his face and Tony sighs with a soft groan.

“The Dark Dimension?”

“I didn’t _leave_ them there, which is something they should be eternally grateful for.” Stephen does a small shrug. “Greater things than them have been lost there after all. Sometimes things like that just happen.”

“I approve.” Loki says.

“I don’t.” Tony retorts.

“I knew you wouldn’t.” Stephen admits with a small incline of his head. “Which is why I didn’t leave them there, just a quick pop in and out. More of a warning about what consequences might await them if they continue on their current path rather than an attack on them. Apparently the conversation we had in the Mirror Dimension didn’t impart on them the very real reality of what I could do to them if they chose to ignore my warnings. A firmer hand was required.”

“I know you think that’ll work.” Tony says with a sigh. “And for anyone with two brain cells to rub together it might, but you don’t get it. They only have one cell that they share between each other, and even then it doesn’t get a lot of workout. I’m starting to think they’re physically incapable of learning from their mistakes.”

“Well that’s unfortunate for _them._ Not for us.” Stephen looks at Tony. “You do realize that I will not attempt to corral Loki again if something happens again.”

“You tried last time?” Loki asks, sounding confused about this supposed ‘corralling’, and Stephen nods.

“Of course I did. I told you he wouldn’t agree with you killing Barton.” He says magnanimously and Tony tries to fight back the amused snort and loses.

“Nice. That sounds like quite the corralling.” He says with a chuckle.

“Then that should warn you about what will come next time.” Stephen says. “We were tasked with helping you. With aiding you on your mission, and with how things have turned out – we’d do it regardless.” Stephen comes over. “But remember Tony, you have to _let_ us help you. We can only do so much if you fight us.”

“I just…” Tony starts before he stops and does a small nod. “No, you’re right. Things are just…crazy. I can get caught up in the need to fix everything that I overlook the fact that sometimes somethings shouldn’t be fixed - and that sometimes new parts are just a requirement for a problem at hand.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Okay, let’s call it a night and deal with all of this in the morning.”

He gets two approving nods for that plan.

+++

“You don’t honestly think they’ll try to replace you?” Sam asks and Steve does a small shrug.

“I don’t know.” He admits. “The Council’s been acting weird and Ross is…well less and less helpful each time we talk.”

“That’s because Tony’s giving him other choices that looks shinier.” Natasha says. “Before, there was only you, but now Tony’s going out of his way to give them _options_ as he would call them.”

“Options that are crap.” Sam argues. “I mean _Loki_? Can you believe that?”

“At this point, I’d believe anything from Stark.” Wanda growls, tugging at the bands. Steve’s attention is dragged to them and he tries to push away the memory of how Tony ignored them, of how Loki cradled his body and Strange’s wet hair…

“-of attack.” He catches the tail end of Natasha’s statement and he jolts guiltily.

“What?” He asks and she gives him an arched eyebrow.

“The Council is going to go into deliberations tomorrow. We need to come up with a plan of attack.” She says again. “Arguments to use against what they’re going to try and charge us with. Rationalizations that will calm this storm.”

“What arguments do you think they’re going to try and use?” Steve asks and she shrugs.

“Clint shot Tony. That’s a big one, but not just that – Ross is right. Tony did lay out Loki’s interplanetary diplomatic immunity and he still chose to do it. That’s not good. If they don’t punish him and make an example of him they could bring about the wrath of Asgard.”

“Clint was just reacting to Loki being there!” Steve snaps and Nat shrugs.

“They’re not going to care. Like it or not, Loki is still Asgardian royalty and he was off limits. Clint shouldn’t have taken the shot. The fact that it ended up hitting Tony, who has gone out of his way to become the Council’s little darling, is even worse.” She says.

“Then what are you suggesting?” Sam asks and Natasha takes a moment before she looks at him.

“You’re not going to like it, but you’re going to have to do it.” Natasha warns and already there’s a feeling crawling down Steve’s spine that he doesn’t like.

“What is it?”

“You’re going to have to throw Clint to the wolves.” She says and she gets several cries of disbelief at that and she shakes her head. “No, I’m serious. Clint’s done for, he knows it and we know it. The only thing we can do now is distance ourselves from him as far as possible. The Council won’t respond well to any favorable thing we could try to bring forth for him and it’ll just hurt our case…but if we give him to them, they might be lenient.”

“Clint’s our friend Nat.” Sam says. “We can’t just abandon him.”

“Clint’s a big boy and he knows how these things work.” Natasha says. “It’s not the first time one of us has been abandoned by our team or leader in order to protect the institution. It’s how the world works. Clint understands that, and we need to understand that too.”

“You want to just…” Steve shakes his head. “No, Nat I can’t do that.”

“Do you want Tony to win?” She asks him seriously. “Because if you don’t cut Clint off as fast as you would cut off a gangrenous limb then that’s what’s going to happen. If you show in any way that you support Clint in what’s just happened, they’ll crucify you alongside him. He’s already done for, the question now is how many of us are going to get taken down with him.” Steve stares at her and he feels like he’s going to be sick as he turns his gaze to Sam and Wanda before he sighs and looks back at Nat.

“…Okay…” He says softly. “What do I do?”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. I had a little bit of a hard time with this chapter because I wasn't sure if I wanted to try to write the Council meeting and I eventually decided against it. It's not my strong suit and I didn't like any of the attempts I made so I gave myself the green light to avoid it and BAM! New Chapter.  
> So here's it is for you all! Enjoy!

**_‘Boss? Rhodes is trying to get your attention.’_** FRIDAY says over the earpiece and Tony pauses in his welding as he glances up to see his Platypus waving at him and holding up a bag that proudly proclaims the undoubtedly excellent Chinese food contained within. Tony turns off the torch as he pushes up the mask.

“Are we celebrating?” He inquires and Rhodey clears off a small area on his work desk as he starts to pull out several small containers of food.

“Did you hear?” Rhodey asks as Tony takes off the mask and his gloves and sets them aside, coming over to the other man.

“No? Hear what? Thanos is dead and we can all live happily ever after?”

“I doubt we’d manage that even if he were.” Rhodey tells him and Tony sighs.

“Ah, that’s true. Sad, but true. Hit me though, what have I not heard?”

“You haven’t been keeping an ear in on the rogue’s case?” Rhodey asks him and Tony scrunches up his nose as he shakes his head.

“Uh, no. I was practicing a form of self-care and ignoring it completely until it’s finished.” He answers him. “I didn’t want to accidentally go see Mistress again because I gave myself high blood pressure or an aneurysm or something.”

“Well it’s already over.” Rhodey says, handing him a pair of chopsticks and Tony cracks them apart with a surprised look on his face.

“Seriously? That fast?”

“Yeah, it’s already finished.” Rhodey takes a seat and pops open one of the containers, and Tony does the same.

“Okay then…hit me. How bad is it this time? What happened?” Tony asks even though he isn’t fully sure he wants the answer to it, even with Rhodey’s little Chinese food victory spread.

“Well the whole thing started with Rogers throwing Barton under the bus and cutting him loose.”

“Predictable. Rational even, and pretty much one of the only strategies that they had available to them. I guess I’m not really surprised that he took it. I mean, he’s abandoned them for his ‘mission’ before.”

“Yeah, he was all – Clint’s actions were deplorable and we can’t stand behind them. It was never our intent to cause harm to such a _vital_ member of the Avengers.” Rhodey says and Tony snorts, choking a little on the bite he’s chewing on.

“No they didn’t.”

“They honestly did. I’ve never seen that group of slimy snakes praise you so much before in my life.” Rhodey says with an eye roll.

“Oh god, I’m _almost_ sorry I missed it then.”

“Don’t be. It was disgusting.” Rhodey tells him. “So after that, it was determined by the Council to bring full murder charges against Barton as well as attempted murder of a foreign dignitary, and assault with a deadly weapon.”

“What?” Tony asks and his voice sounds as surprised as he is. “But…I’m not dead.”

“That’s the thing. They determined that your continued state of existence in this world was the result of a third parties intervention and that you did truly _die_ and that such an event shouldn’t be cheapened or glossed over just because you have a deal with Mistress Death that keeps you from _staying_ dead.” Rhodey smiles. “He’s been transferred to a high security prison where he’ll await trial.”

“Woah.” Tony says, leaning back in his chair a little as he takes another bite. “How did Rogers and the gang take that?”

“They didn’t say anything outright, but it was clear they weren’t happy.” Rhodey says.

“What about Rogers? What did they determine with him?”

“They’ve all been put on sideline probation.” Rhodey replies. “They’ve broken several of the agreements that they had with the Accords Council when they returned and even though the Council acknowledges that it must have been a shock to see Loki – the event itself would have never happened if chains of command and authority were obeyed and executed.” Rhodey grins. “They’ll be confined to the Compound. Rogers is no longer an authority on the Avengers. The Council decided to enact a bit of leniency with the upcoming threat but Rogers and the others have been informed that _any_ act after this will be their last fuck up and they’ll be ejected from the Avengers immediately.”

“Huh.” Tony says, munching. “Wow. The Council finally said ‘fuck you’ to Rogers.”

“Looks like it. They want to push for a vote for a new leader ASAP.” Rhodey says.

“Are you going to go for it?”

“I don’t know.” Rhodey admits, looking torn. “I mean, it would be cool to _say_ that I was the leader of the Avengers but I’m not actually sure…”

“You’re not sure that you actually _want_ to be the leader?”

“Pretty much.” Rhodey nods, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. “I would do well at it. I know I would, I just don’t know if I’m up for it. If it’s a burden that I want to take on.”

“It’s certainly something to think about. Before you put your name in the pot.”

“What about you? Are you going to run?”

“Nah.” Tony says with a shake of his head. “I’m actually thinking of retiring if we manage to pull this all off.”

“Seriously?” Rhodey says and his voice sounds surprised and Tony nods, sighing a little as he stirs up some of the noodles in the container while he thinks about what he’s going to say next.

“Yeah…I mean…it was always Thanos for me you know? I didn’t really know what I was doing before the Chitauri showed up and then I was obsessed with protecting us from what I knew was out there.” Tony shakes his head. “I don’t know, I guess I’m ready to bow out when the threat is gone. Plus with the deal over at that time I’ll just be Tony Stark again. Not Mistress Death’s emissary, just me. I think that’s a good note to bow out on.”

“Have you talked to Loki and Stephen about it?”

“No, not yet.” Tony admits. “It’s…hard. I mean, Loki’s long lived because of what he is and Stephen’s gone the way of his teacher and made the choice to extend his own life through Durmamu or whatever that guy’s name is. Mistress has offered to extend the contract, to allow me to continue being a Shinigami basically for as long as I want to take up the scythe in her name…but I’m tired Rhodey. I’m so tired. Maybe…maybe there has to come a time when you realize that it’s time to let it all go.”

“…yeah.” Rhodey agrees, giving Tony a small smile. “Yeah, there needs to be a time when that happens. You can’t be a soldier forever, you gotta go home sometime.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to tell them about it I just…Loki doesn’t get a choice to be what he is but Stephen got to make his all on his own. I wanted that too. I didn’t want them over my shoulder with whatever they thought I should do. Not that I think they’d push it or not respect my choice, but sometimes little things can push through and I wanted to know that I came to the decision on my own, with no outside forces I was trying to please.”

“I agree.” Rhodey tells him. “You’ve been doing this for a long time Tones. It’s alright to see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

“There’s only a light if we stop Thanos.”

“We’re gonna stop that bastard. The three of you have been going around to other planets and gathering alliances along with Thor. Earth’s not going to go into this fight alone, and we’re going to be ready for the asshole and his fucking glove.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I’m always right.” Rhodey replies and Tony laughs.

“I thought that was my line?” He points out and Rhodey grins.

“Every now and then you have to give up the title. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.” Rhodey tells him and Tony smiles.

“Sounds legit. I concede to your point.”

+++

“We can’t just let them do this!” Wanda snarls, tugging at the bands on her wrists and letting out a frustrated sound when they don’t budge. “Clint didn’t do anything wrong!”

“He killed Tony.” Sam points out.

“Stark is fine!” Wanda snaps. “He’s fine, he’s walking around while other people rot in the ground and they’re going to punish Clint for that?”

“Wanda calm down.” Steve tells her and she looks at him with big, watery eyes.

“Clint came for me when Stark locked me up.” She says. “How can I leave him there? How can I let that happen?”

“We don’t have any choice.” Natasha says and Wanda spins on her.

“We had a choice! We could have chosen to back him. What if they would have gone easy on him if we had sided with him?”

“You can’t truly be that naïve.” Natasha scolds, crossing her arms. “The only reason – _the only one_ – that we are not locked up too is because Clint chose to take the full blame and let us walk off.” Natasha sighs and shakes her head. “There was no saving him Wanda. Not with the Council in bed with the Asgardian’s and Tony’s death.”

“He didn’t die!”

“He didn’t _stay_ dead. He did die.” Natasha fires back. “Although I’m more worried about _that_.”

“Yeah, a Stark who can’t be killed?” Sam shivers. “That’s the stuff of nightmares.”

“He made some kind of deal.” Steve says, joining back in on the conversation. “Do you think it was with Loki?”

“Or with Strange.” Natasha says. “I mean, they’re abnormally close in such a short amount of time. Normally things and ‘relationships’ like that tend to come from high stress situations and life and death events.”

“That seems like an odd thing to do though. Why give Stark the power of immortality? It’s not like there aren’t other versions of his armor running around. Rhodes for example. Plus if you wanted smarts there’s all of Wakanda to pull from.”

“I don’t know.” Natasha says. “We’d need more information, and I doubt that it’s information that’s easily accessed. The Council seems to know about it, but I haven’t heard any chatter from my sources about anything like that.”

“Isn’t it a good thing though? I mean, if Tony can keep coming back then he’ll be an effective force against whatever this extra-terrestrial threat is. If he dies, he just pops right back up.” Steve asks the group.

“They’re putting a lot of backup plans in place despite Tony’s immortality.” Natasha says with a shake of her head. “And he said he wasn’t fully immortal. What if it’s like a nine lives thing?”

“Like a cat?” Sam asks and she shrugs.

“Something like it. Maybe he only has a set number of ‘lives’ to work through and Clint just stole one away.”

“It was an accident.” Wanda snaps and no one really pays her any mind.

“Do you think it’s something that could be replicated?” Steve asks. “If it’s just some spell that Loki or Strange did then wouldn’t it be better to get us all with it? We’d be an even more effective force.”

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin to bring that up to someone.” Natasha admits. “And I doubt they’d give it to us even if the entire world was going to burn without it.”

“It just might.” Sam points out and she shrugs.

“Doesn’t mean I can convince them to part with whatever did it.” She replies.

“We need to get these off.” Wanda says, rejoining the conversation and she holds up her wrists. “If we can get them off, I can read Stark’s mind. I can find out what this is, how they did it and we’ll have all the information that we need.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea.” Steve says slowly. “We’re already on thin ice.”

“Thin ice or the destruction of the world Steve?” Wanda fires back. “If I can get access to my powers again I can get us everything we need to succeed.”

“We don’t even know the first thing about how those work.” Natasha says, reaching out and taking Wanda’s wrist, looking the band over. “Or where to even begin trying to get them off. We’ve all tried to do it, it doesn’t work.”

“What if we got someone else to do it?” She asks. “Someone from Stark’s team?”

“What makes you think they’ll go for that?”

“We’ll convince them.” She replies. “Maybe they’re made to where only we can’t take them off.”

“If that’s true, a complete stranger would do.” Nat says. “And that just seems sloppy. Why leave such an obvious loophole?”

“Then we’ll make Stark take them off.” She snaps.

“And how on earth are we going to do that?” Sam questions her with a raised eyebrow and she throws her hands up in frustration.

“I don’t know, but we can’t just keep standing around here while Stark makes a mockery of us and spits on us.” She says.

“I think we’re all on edge because of the Council’s verdict.” Steve says, putting a calming hand on her shoulder. “I say we get some rest and come up with some new ideas tomorrow when we’re not all feeling so trigger happy.”

“I agree.” Sam says and Natasha nods along with him.

“Sounds good.” She says and they all look at Wanda who takes a moment before she nods.

“Fine.” She says petulantly as she crosses her arms and Steve gives her a smile.

“Good, let’s get some sleep and come at this problem again tomorrow.” Steve bids them all goodnight and he tries to follow his own advice and attempts to go to bed but sleep eludes him. What is the story with Tony? Who is the person he made a deal with? What if it was Strange? Does that mean that Strange has some kind of control over him?

…what if…what if the wet hair was actually a sign of…

Steve tries to push down the panic. He’s being irrational, there’s no evidence.

He closes his eyes and tries to fall asleep again.

…There’s no evidence of it…right?

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to leave a comment!  
>  **Comment Rules**  
>  No comments of a negative/argumentative/critiquing nature.  
> No comments referencing displeasure with pairing choices. 
> 
> Thank you!


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